Samsara
by Lionheart07
Summary: Atella Vorst has been an agent of SHIELD for most of her life. Just as she is starting to get away from a life of killing, she is called back in to deal with a crisis. Takes place during the Avengers movie. Eventual Loki/OC.
1. Atella Vorst

Hello. This is my first time writing any kind of comic fanfiction, although I have been reading comics for years. Due to the popularity of the Avengers and other comic book movies, I decided to give my knowledge a shot and see what happens. I really like using OCs in my stories because there are so many different things that you can do with them, so my story will have an OC and will follow the Avengers movie. This is more of an experimental story, so don't expect too much from it. Anyway, please review and let me know what you think. If you hate it, that's fine, just be intelligent in your response about why you don't like it. I will probably write a few chapters just to do it, but after that let me know where you would like me to take the story.

**UPDATE: **I have combined chapters 1,2, and 3 to form this chapter so that they are longer. Hope you all are okay with this.

8-8-8-8

_Her parents where out in the middle of the jungle in the Amazon doing research for a wildlife organization. The pollution was starting to effect the reproduction rate of a few of the animals that called the forest home, and they were spending an entire month collecting frogs and insects and fish to send back to a laboratory in the United States._

_After a week in the Amazon, Atella Vorst was on the edges of the camp playing with the family dog that made the trip with them. She would throw a stick into the thick green leaves where it would disappear along with the dog, and the dog, McDowell, would find it and bring it back. Just as the dog was returning from yet another trip into the forest, Atella felt the ground vibrate slightly and heard a dull thud from within the forest. She looked back at the camper that her parents were in, but they did not stir. They did not feel anything. She wasn't allowed in the forest, but the noise didn't sound like it was too far away. With one more glance back at the camper, she slipped into the leaves that McDowell disappeared into so many times before, and set out in search of what made the noise._

_She did not have to look for long. About twenty feet into the forest, there was a newly made clearing. All of the surrounding shrubbery and trees had somehow been flatten down so that there was a clear view of the blue sky above. In the middle of the clearing was an egg shaped object, and it gleamed and sparkled in the sunlight. As Atella got closer, she could see that her reflection looking curiously back at her. She reached a hand out to touch it, but before her fingers could make contact, McDowell let out a loud, sharp bark. She jumped and glared back at the German Shepard for scaring her. He wasn't looking at her though. He was looking at the egg and started to growl. Atella scolded the dog then turned her attention back to the mirrored object. She knew how excited her parents got when they discovered something new or different, and she turned around and ran back to the camp. They would know what it was._

_When they got back to the clearing, her parents had their camera and clipboards ready, but as soon as they saw what was in the center, they paused. They didn't know what it was either. Atella stood beside of it proudly._

_"Isn't it cool?" she asked them._

_"Get away from it, Atella! We don't know if it is dangerous or not," said her dad. He turned to his wife and said, "This is beyond us. We need to call someone else."_

_Atella huffed at her father's words, annoyed that he scolded her. She dropped down to her knees and stuck her hand out to touch it._

_"Atella, don't-"_

_It was an instantaneous response. As soon as her palm cam in contact with the top of it, there was an explosion, then, nothing._

_Atella woke up mere minutes later to the sounds of distant sirens and the smell of smoke. Her hand was still attached to the top of the object. Any other kid her age would have cried, but she didn't. She tried to pull her hand away, but it wouldn't move. She looked around what used to the small clearing. All of the trees had been blasted away, and her parents were nowhere in sight. She looked down at herself, and she was completely unharmed. Even her clothes were not burned._

_Her attention quickly turned back to the egg, because it started to hum. The place where her hand was touching grew white hot, and she screamed, but still could not move her hand. The reflective mirrors of the egg grew darker, and it looked as though the mirrors were being sucked up off of the egg by her hand. The mirror went up her arm and her shoulder, and soon it covered her entire body. Then, it seemed to sink down into her skin, and it left a cool sensation when it did so. As quickly as it had happened, it was gone, and she could move her hand. As soon as she took her hand away, the egg disappeared and was gone. The sirens were a lot closer now, but her parents were still nowhere in sight._

_Her parents had died that day, but something inside of her was born. Something that she didn't even know could be inside her. When the police got there and saw the extent of the damage, and the extent to which Atella was completely unharmed, they made a call._

_Atella was taken into police custody, and, since she had no other family that they could find, she stayed there for several days until someone came to get her. The man called himself Nick Fury, and he scared the shit out of Atella even though he was kind to her. Fury took her to an underground base back in the United States. There, Atella was asked a million questions about the accident, as well as the egg artifact. After she told them about the mirror melting into her body, the next few days consisted of her being hooked up to machines and constantly being monitored, but nothing ever came from it._

8-8-8-8

Atella never understood the concept of good and evil. There were always two sides to everything, and who is to say which is good or bad? However, she could see how a person would have a preference for one of those sides. She usually took the side that seemed more logical. In her mind, logic was the key to staying alive, and, so far, her theory was correct. Her particular talents did not usually lead to safe places, so she had to make sure she made the right decisions when the time came. Safety usually wasn't a big problem for Atella. Not since the accident when she was a child.

Growing up in an environment like SHIELD made Atella into a woman that observed more than she spoke. Instead of bedtime stories and songs that her parents used to read and sing to her, she began reading books from the library at SHIELD. Not one of those books had anything about a cow jumping over the moon, but they were filled with military knowledge as well as various fighting techniques from around the world.

Before she had discovered the library, she felt like she was just drifting from day to day. She had nothing else to keep her company but the agents, and they weren't the best people to keep a little girl occupied.

Over time, she managed to read almost every book in the library, and when the time came that her powers showed themselves, she was able to breeze right through training. During that time, she felt like she had finally found her place among the SHIELD agents. They no longer saw her as a science experiment, but as an asset. Early on she was sent out on missions with some of the top ranking agents, and soon she quickly joined those ranks by the time she turned eighteen.

Now, at the age of twenty-five, she felt as though she finally had a grasp on, not only her place in the agency, but in the world. She was still the quiet woman that she had been when she was younger, but she was no longer timid about speaking. She had a newfound confidence that few people could match, and this came, not from her fighting skills or knowledge, but from her powers. She was now one of the best that SHIELD had to offer, and she was well aware of it.

However, after years of putting up with people telling her were to go and how to live, she requested a leave of absence. She never got to be a young adult, or teenager for that matter. Everything was always within grasp, and the only time that she had to fend for herself was when she was out on a mission. She just wanted to live normally for once. Just temporarily, for she did not feel as though she could leave the agency that she had grown up in forever. She wanted to live in a normal house, out in the country and away from technology. She wanted to have a normal job, and do things like grocery shopping or go out with friends and talk about something other than the agency.

Her wish came true, and she had all of that. SHIELD sent her to a small rural town in Ohio. It had a population of 1500 people, and she loved it. However, after about a year, she was contacted yet again by Fury.

"We need you to come back," were Fury's first words to her.

"My request was for three years. You have other people that are more than capable of handling whatever it is that you need," she said into the phone.

"Your request has been temporarily revoked. We need you now. This isn't some small time assassination we are dealing with. This is big, and we need everyone we can get," Fury said, clearly getting frustrated.

Atella sighed. She knew that they would make her leave no matter what. There was nothing that she could do. "How am I getting back?"

"We have already sent a jet out to pick you up. It should be there in twenty minutes. Better start packing." With that, Fury hung up the phone without waiting for a response.

Atella took the phone away from her ear and looked around her house. She did not accumulate a lot of stuff over the past few months, but she knew she wouldn't be able to take everything. She went to her closet in the living room and took out all of her luggage, as well as a few boxes and looked around at the decorations and clothes that were scattered around the room. With her mind made up, she grabbed one of the smaller suitcases and went up the stairs to her bedroom, and began packing clothes.

Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock on her door, and she answered it to find an agent waiting to escort her back to New York. Atella took one last look around the building that had been her first real home, and, leaving everything but a few outfits, closed the door and left the house for the last time.

8-8-8-8

_ Atella's powers did not reveal themselves until she was thirteen years old. By that time, everyone in SHIELD knew who she was, and she knew who most of the people were._

_ After the first few months of living underground, she thought she would be allowed to leave, that it was only a temporary thing. Fury told her otherwise. She was to stay with SHIELD until they deemed it safe for her to be among the general population. When they told her that, it pissed her off then, and it got no better the following years. She was used to being out amoung the trees and the forest, but now her life was nothing but fluorescent lights and tile floors. She didn't hate the people of SHIELD, but she didn't exactly like them either for imprisoning her._

_ Over time, her anger started to fade as she accepted her fate. She devoted all of her spare time to the library where she read books on strategy in war, and books on different fighting styles. After reading a rather huge book on the martial arts, she asked Fury if she could begin training. He laughed at her and told her that she was too young and too little and that she would just get hurt. She still asked several more times after that, but the answer was always the same._

_ One day, she wondered into the gym like she usually did. There were new agents training and sparring in there. She liked watching them fight even if she could not do it herself. She became lost in the thought of training and her own anger because she was still too young, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. _

_ She turned around to see another girl standing there. She was only a few years older than Atella, but she had been recently brought in by SHIELD and had seen and done more than most of the agents in the building. _

_ The girl looked at Atella up and down and said, "You come in here a lot, and you just watch."_

_ "Fury says that I'm still too young to do anything," Atella said looking down shamefully. She heard the other girl laugh and looked up._

_ "If you have the heart and conviction, then you should at least be allowed to practice. Besides, when I was your age, I had already killed many people. Being small means it is harder to be seen, " said the girl that was older, but still so young. "I can show you a few boxing moves, and we can go from there if it suits you."_

_ Atella was beyond excited. "Okay! I mean, I already know how to box, but I've never actually did it before," she said giddily._

_ "What?" Natasha asked, confused._

_ "Oh, I've read about ten books on how to box. I read a lot," Atella hurriedly said in her excitement. _

_ "Oh… okay then. I'm Natasha," said the girl holding out her hand. _

_ "Atella," she said, grasping the other girl's hand._

8-8-8-8

This place. Atella had been on this pseudo aircraft carrier before, but that was when things were a lot less dangerous. She had been briefed on the situation on the way to the ship, and what she heard was not good.

A god here on Earth… again. She was on an assignment when the incident in New Mexico happened, but she heard so much about it in the following weeks, it was like she had been there. It was only a matter of time before more aliens came to the planet, but she wished it didn't happen so soon. There were already enough problems on Earth without outside forces helping the destruction along.

If this guy was as powerful as everyone thought he was, she did not know how much help she would actually be. In the back of her mind, she knew that few people could match her level of power, and told herself that this time would be no different.

She was being lead through a series of hallways to the control room. She probably knew the corridors and rooms of this ship better than the man leading her through them. He was taking her the long way to the control room, and she had to stop herself from veering off and going her own way. However, the reason made itself clear when they walked past the laboratory.

Banner. Atella was present when the monster tore apart half of New York. Yet for some reason, Fury thought it would be a good idea to let him roam free in a glass room hovering in the middle of the sky. He really did need everyone he could get his hands on. The situation was clearly worse than what she thought for him to ask Banner in.

Banner looked up at her just as she looked away. She had been one of the people to relocate him, and she really wasn't up for a reunion right now. She kept walking right past him and down yet another hallway to the control room.

When she got there, Fury was talking to someone. With his back turned toward her, she had no idea who it was. The agent that was escorting her kept going until he reached the two of them and got Fury's attention.

Fury turned to look at her and said, "Agent Vorst, welcome back."

"I wish that I could say that it was good to be back, but you guys seemed to have got us all in a fuck ton of trouble since I've been gone," she said in a dry tone.

Fury ignored her comment like he usually did and said, "Yes, well we are trying to fix everything now. Agent, I don't believe that you have had the honor of meeting Captain Rogers."

Atella didn't even notice the man was looking at her until now. He was a very tall man, muscular man, and she recognized him as soon as their eyes met. Captain America. He was like a god himself around here. A lot of people, Coulson being one of them, practically worshipped this guy. She always found the Captain and his story to be interesting, but never really put a lot of stock into a dead guy. Now, here he was, alive and well right in front of her.

"How-" she began, but was cut off by Fury.

"He was found in the ice while you were on leave. He has been with us for about seven months now."

"Wow, it is an honor to meet you Captain. You were an inspiration to a lot of people around here," Atella said shaking the blonde man's hand.

"Likewise ma'am. What is it that you do around here?" said the Captain with a slight accent. He sounded like the people you see on old television shows and movies.

Atella glanced at Fury before saying, "If something needs done that can't be done physically or by anyone else, I take care of it. I also offer protection to those that need it."

Fury scoffed at her and said, "It isn't like it's a secret. You can be honest with him. He's going to see weirder shit than what you do anyway."

Atella looked back at Steve Rogers and paused before saying, "I can control certain things with my mind. Not objects so much as people. I mean, I can move things, but it's easier for me to get into the minds of others. Get what I need, make them do what I need, and get out. I also have my own person set of armor."

The Captain just nodded. "Well that isn't too bad. What do you mean that you have your own set of armor? Like Stark?"

Atella took a step back from him. It would be easier to show him rather than explain it. With a thought she felt the familiar cool sensation run all over her body. From the gasps that she heard, she knew that the transformation was complete. She opened her eyes and looked at the two men in front of her.

Rogers was staring at her with his mouth hanging open in shock. Fury was looking at her with his one eye with a hint of pride in it. After all, it was him that found her.

"What happened to you?" Rogers said, still staring at her in shock.

"When I was little I played with something that I shouldn't have. This is what happened." She looked down at her hand and saw that her skin looked exactly like the mirrored shell of the mysterious egg that she had found all those years ago. "We don't know what it is. They can't get a sample of it, but it is harder than any material found on Earth. It gives me superior strength, though not as strong as a god. Which leads me to my next question for you," she said and looked at Fury. "Why did you call me in? What can I possibly do to help you in this situation."

"There is a lot that you can do for us. It's like you said, Agent; you protect people and do the impossible. That's what we need you to do."

"From what? From Banner? We both know that he is stronger than I will ever be. His mind is too chaotic for me to even attempt to control him. The most that I can help you with is letting him throw me around a bit while you all escape through the back door."

This is the exact thing that Atella was trying to get away from. SHIELD's half baked ideas for defense were too ridiculous, and they usually killed more people than saved them. She wasn't going to get in the way of people that could actually make a difference.

Fury didn't look deterred. "It isn't The Hulk that concerns us. It's Loki."

"Oh yeah, because taking on a god sounds so much better," Atella said crossing her arms.

"Since when did you become such a defeatist? Maybe we shouldn't have given you that leave of absence. If you don't even want to try, then get off my ship."

He knew exactly how to press her buttons. She had never turned down a mission, no matter how hard it seemed. She knew that she was his go to person if something seemed too dangerous for anyone else. He knew she would always say yes to anything thrown her way. Maybe he was right. Maybe her time spent away from the workaholic agents and among normal country people was enough to turn her into a person of caution rather than a person of action. But, she knew her answer the moment Fury got done talking.

"Can I have my old room back?"

8-8-8-8-8

Atella did get her old room back. Nothing at all had changed in it, which wasn't surprising to her in the least. It wasn't the most comfortable room, but she had spent months living in worse. She unpacked the small bag that she brought with her and walked into the impossibly small bathroom. Just as she predicted, inside the tiny cupboard was a toothbrush, washcloth, and several other bathroom necessities.

She took out the washcloth and turned the hot tap on the sink on until the sink was hazed by a layer of steam. She soaked the cloth in the water and run it out, relishing the warm on her hands. She always had to have a calming moment before she started a mission, just a moment to get some perspective.

Loki, the god of whatever (there were no books on Norse religion in the SHIELD library), is on Earth. They are not alone in the world. There are others out there that seek to destroy them. The only people that are able to even attempt to do anything have some of the biggest psychological problems that she had ever seen. Then there was herself. What could she do? She was sure that her telekinesis would prove to be pathetic against the warmongering god. Becoming invincible? That was Stark's job. Strength? That was Banner's other half. The Captain took up whatever there was that was left for her. She had no place here, there was no place for her to make a difference. She should have taken up Fury on his offer and just left the ship.

_No._ What if the monster ran off and Stark's armor was destroyed? The Captain was still only human and could probably be killed. Then what? Then who would defend the planet? There was no guarantee that the god's brother would be able to help them with the war. That would only leave herself and Natasha to give the planet one final chance. She couldn't quite before it started. She wouldn't.

She took the washcloth away from her face and left her room and started walking down the maze that was SHIELD's flying boat. She found herself walking towards Banner's office, which, she realized, she was eager to see the man. If she was going to be working with him, she needed to start to get to know him, and figure out how to contain him should the beast get out of control.

She walked through the sliding door of the laboratory to find the small, slight man staring at a computer screen.

"Doctor," Atella said after a moment of waiting.

The genius jumped slightly and immediately started fidgeting with his hands.

"Uh, hi. You… you were on the helicopter that took me to Calcutta. You punched me."

Atella's expression didn't change. "You raised your voice. It was a reaction."

The scientist smiled a bit and looked down nervously. "Uh… your skin. I saw your skin change. There was a reason why you in particular took me to the middle of nowhere. What is it you do?"

This was the second time within an hour that she had been asked that same question. She learned her lesson the first time, and keep her answer short. "I have telekinetic powers. My skin also turns into a material harder than diamonds, which, in turn, makes me strong."

"Ah, so if you couldn't control my mind, at least you could control me without getting hurt in the process. Am I right?"

This guy was a bit of a smart ass.

"Partially. However there is no way that my strength could compare to your… the other guy's. Anyway, I'm not here to talk about that. I want to know what Fury has you doing."

"What? You don't trust-"

"Stop," Atella interrupted. She knew exactly where this self deprecating act was going, and just didn't have time to comfort the doctor right now. "I trust you, I just want to know more about everything. Just tell me the basics."

The doctor looked taken aback for a moment, then he turned back to his computer screens. "Well what we are doing…" and he proceeded to explain to the agent, in great detail, what exactly Fury was making him do. It took him about an hour, with Atella asking question occasionally, to finish.

"That's it… that's all I've got," Banner said with a fidgety look around the room.

Atella was silent for a second. Then she said, "Tell me. A man of your intelligence, what do you think about this entire situation?"

The man gave her a half-hearted laugh and turned around to look out the huge window into the sky. He held his hands together behind his back and was still for the first time Atella had ever seen.

"I know this will be weird coming from a guy like me, but even now, I just don't believe it. Part of me still thinks that you guys are going to come rushing into this room with all manner of weaponry pointed at me, which, by the way, wouldn't work," he gave a small smile, then was serious again. "But, the logical part of me keeps saying that it was only a matter of time. Hell, if we as the human race found this technology, this unlimited energy, on some other planet, I'm sure we would already be out there looking for it. As soon as word got out to the other world's that it was here with us, it was only a matter of time. What concerns me more than this," he turned around as he said this, "is what SHIELD was doing with this before Loki took it. You can't tell me that they were just studying it. You know as well as I do that they were making something with this."

"I have been on leave for a long time, doctor. I have no idea what SHIELD has been doing with its time or energies in the past year, and, after all of this, I'm not sure that I want to know. Something has changed. It feels different. Fury is… worried. I've known him my whole life, and I have never seen him even get flustered by anything," replied Atella carefully. The more she spoke, the more she realized the weight of her words. Something was going on this boat that Fury had failed to tell her about.

"I have to go," she said, and turned to walk out of the room.

"Wait, Agent Vorst…" Banner said, but then paused. He played with his fingers for a second before saying, "I forgive you for punching me."

This made Atella smile. "I'm sorry if I had hurt you."

"You did, but it was my fault. I just wanted to see what you would do," he said smiling sheepishly.

"I would hit you."

"So you would."

Atella cracked her first genuine grin at the troubled man before disappearing out the door and down one of the many beehive like catacombs.

8-8-8-8

So if you all like X-Men, you will find that Atella has the same powers as Emma Frost, but with a few modifications. Frost is probably one of my favorite characters of all time, but I really didn't want to do a crossover, so, although Atella has her powers, she is her own person, and doesn't look anything like Frost. I'm sure that you all are picturing Atella as looking like Frost, but I don't want that to happen since they look nothing alike in my head. I'm going to go ahead and describe her here, because a pet peeve of mine is when, in the middle of the story, I have to read several paragraphs of character descriptions. Allow me to sum this one up in one sentence; Atella is about 5'8" with black hair and blue eyes and tan skin. I might mention one or two other things in the story, but for now, you all can picture what she looks like. Anyway, I hope that this is starting to interest you a bit.


	2. Shattered

The air was filled with tension by the time that Atella got back into the control room. There were a few people that looked a bit panicked, but there were also some that looked to be relieved. Atella looked around and saw Fury barking orders at another agent.

It wasn't until she walked fully into the room that she saw who that agent was; Natasha. Her best friend. She walked over to the two SHIELD members and stayed a respectful distance away while they talked. She saw Natasha look over at and smile slightly. They hadn't seen each other in a very long time. Longer than Atella had been on leave. Natasha was busy doing something for the Ironman situation and had been indisposed for months. By the time that she completed whatever it was she was doing, Atella was long gone.

Atella returned Natasha's smile and continued observing the people in the room. She looked over to where Agent Coulson was standing looking at a monitor, and saw a picture of a man on the screen. She could only guess who that man was.

"Is that our guy," she said taking the few steps toward Coulson.

"The god of lies and mischief himself. We have located him in Germany," said Coulson in a tone that conveyed both anger and a slight awe.

"How powerful is he really? Does anyone know?"

Coulson looked away from the screen. "If he is as strong as his brother, we are in some trouble."

"And what if he is stronger?"

"We can only hope that that isn't the case."

Atella sighed and rubbed her eyes. It was a reaction when she was incredibly frustrated. SHIELD never wanted to think about the worse case scenario. They only hoped that it wouldn't be that bad, and that wasn't good enough for her.

"Okay, well what is his weapon? What can he do? Can he control the lightning like Thor? Does he have powers like the Destroyer? What are we dealing with? My god… Nobody knows anything, and if they do, they are not telling everyone enough! How do you expect us to fight when we don't even know how to prepare? What in the hell have you all been doing while I was away?"

A few people had gone quiet at the volume of her voice. She rarely yelled, and if she did, it was usually an order. It did not seem to faze Coulson, however.

"He has some sort of staff. We don't know what it does or what it is capable of doing. He can use magic. We don't know what kind or how powerful it can be. The fact of the matter is that you don't know what we are dealing with because we don't know either. We are calling in everyone we can that might be able to explain it to us better. If you want to learn more about him, Agent, I suggest you listen rather than talk."

Atella didn't say anything. This was the reason she was quiet. When she did open her mouth, it was usually to criticize someone else because they did not live up to her standards. There was no reason to accuse SHIELD of anything, yet, in any case.

Just as she opened her mouth to apologize, she heard Fury right behind her. "Vorst, go with the Captain and Agent Romanoff. I think it would do you some good to get off of this boat for a while. Oh, and while you're out, can you make up your mind about whether or not you even want to be apart of this agency?"

Great. Her first day back and she was already disappointing people. "It won't happen again, I am going to go get ready."

She didn't even bother confirming or asking where they were going. If they found Loki, that mean they were going after him the first chance they got. Also, if they wanted her, Natasha, and the Captain, they were anticipating a fight.

Atella's usually straight and rigid posture was completely changed by the time she got back to her room. It felt like the weight of everyone's stress, her own included, was weighing her down. She sat down heavily on the bed and closed her eyes. She could have fallen asleep right then, but she didn't. Instead, she let herself drift off into the minds of others on the ship. Minds that were, hopefully, much more calm than her own.

She went from agent to agent, trying to find someone that wasn't worried about a possible attack on the Earth. She couldn't find one. Everyone was on edge.

She felt the mind of the doctor, and just listened to his thoughts for a few minutes. He was worried that he was going to kill everyone else on the ship. Atella was pretty sure everyone else was worried about the same thing. However, looking deeper into his emotions, he also felt proud that he was able to help, and even a bit relieved and happy to be back in a laboratory environment again. She smiled at his thoughts. He was a sweet man. Before leaving, she went to another corner of his mind, and sat straight up as soon as the two made the connection. In a flash, she saw a massive green face staring right at her. The Hulk knew she was looking inside the doctor's mind, and he did not like it. Atella had not completely pulled away from the darkest corner of Banner's mind when she felt something in that connection. The darkness was sweeping over the rest of his mind. The Hulk wanted out.

_Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit, _was all she could think as she watched, horrorstruck as the darkness was slowly taking over. Then, without warning, the lightest and strongest part of the mind, stronger than the Hulk, completely took over, driving the darkest back in an instant. Atella waited to a few more seconds before severing the connection she had made.

She opened her eyes again to find herself standing; one hand on the doorknob, and the other on the gun on her hip. She let go of both and returned to her bed and threw herself on it. It seemed like she was making several bad decisions today. Maybe she shouldn't go on this little trip with Natasha and the Captain. At this rate, she is going to cause the entire war to be won with just one more stupid decision made on her part.

8-8-8-8

Atella had only been to Germany once in her life, and that was just passing through. Usually to get assigned somewhere, you had to speak the language of the country, and, if there were anything that she was completely useless at, it was foreign languages. The only languages that she was even slightly good at were Italian and Spanish, and that was just because of her love for both foods. Germany was always out of the question.

Her and the pilot didn't talk in the plane right to the city. There was no reason to speak. Atella was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to say anything out loud. She had never faced another superhuman before, and was trying to prepare her mind for the worst. The thought of dying didn't faze her, but it was the thought of other people dying because she made a mistake. She couldn't afford to lose focus tonight with so many other people around. If mind control wouldn't work on the god, something that was very likely of happening, then she had to be ready to fight him.

She was to be dropped off first at this party to try to locate Loki. They knew that he was at the party, but they wanted an exact position on him. She left on a plane before Natasha or the Captain did, and was dropped out a couple of miles out of the city. From there, she began running into the heart of the German city to the party.

8-8-8-8

This was the only behavior that Loki had seen on Earth that reminded him of home. In Asgard, banquets and parties filled with delicious food and drink happened at least once a month, until Odin decided otherwise.

Although Asgardian festivities were far more lavish, this wasn't as bad as he was expecting it to be. He walked around for a bit talking to different people here and there. A king should know the people that he is ruling over after all. He found them to be quiet boring. A lot of them only cared about 'who he was wearing,' a question that he didn't understand in the slightest.

If he had to be honest with himself, he liked the people of Earth. Why would he want to rule over a race that he despises? They were laughably weak, and it would take many years to establish any sort of fearsome reputation in the other realms with them, but, he would be a king. A good king at that. Some of the humans, like Selvig and Barton, gave him some hope. They both seemed to be years ahead of their peers in terms of intelligence and combat skills, respectivly. They would be the starting point for making this planet a leading might within the realms.

Loki also had a few other humans that would prove to be useful once he had taken control of the planet. The man, Tony Stark, was perhaps just as intelligent as Selvig if not more so. The man who was more monster than human, Banner, would create a new breed of human. Stronger, faster, that would be his army. If it proved impossible to control the beasts, then there was always the Captain. Weaker than the monster, but still more useful than the rest of the population.

Yes, Loki would make these people powerful. He would be a good king.

8-8-8-8

Atella reached the edge of the city in a matter of minutes. It was a good thing she continued to jog while on leave, otherwise she wouldn't have made it. When she was five blocks away from the city, she went into a back alleyway to get ready for the party. However, it was not a dress that she pulled from her bag, but several weapons. She would be able to manipulate the minds of the people at the party to not notice her, or her attire, while she was there. There was no way they were letting her set foot inside those doors while she was wearing a skin tight jumpsuit.

Atella took several knives of various sizes from her bag and laid them on the dumpster in front of her and began concealing them to several parts of her body. The largest of these, somewhere between a sword and a dagger she strapped to her back. Two went on her hip, and two more were attached to the side of her calf. Then she took out the only gun that she bothered to bring and slipped it into its holster on her thigh. She seriously doubted that bullets would do anything to the man, but if she could get close enough to him to stab him in the side of the head, surely that would be successful.

Atella usually never had to worry about protecting herself. Her diamond skin would easily make guns and knives useless, and if someone did manage to sneak up on her, she would feel their mind before anything could happen. However, she wasn't taking any chances tonight.

The last two knives in her bag were small daggers. These she concealed on the inside of her wrists. They were the only throwing knives that she brought with her, and she regretted not bringing more and having to rely on a gun for distance attacks. She didn't trust guns. One mission, she was so injured that she had to rely solely on a gun to protect her, and it had jammed on her. She would have been killed if it hadn't been for Natasha. It was only Atella's second mission, but she owed Natasha her life for saving her then. Since that moment, Atella hardly ever used guns, and often made fun of Natasha for favoring them so much.

Regardless, she doubled checked everything then withdrew her last item from the bag. It was her communication earpiece. She needed to keep Natasha updated on Loki's location within the building once she found him.

She turned it on and instantly heard Natasha's say, "Welcome back to work Agent Vorst."

Atella smiled. "It's good to be back, Agent Romanoff. I'm in the city. I should be at the party in about ten minutes."

"Good. We won't be able to get there for another thirty minutes. Fury went over a few more things with us after you left, so we got a late start. But, that will give you some time to find Loki and try to get him away from the crowd. We will wait for your word."

"Copy that," Atella said emerging from the alleyway.

"Atella, be careful. Take your time finding him, and don't do anything too brash."

"Copy that," Atella said quickening her pace.

8-8-8-8

Agent Romanoff turned off her side of the communicator, but continued to watch the tracking monitor from her seat in the cockpit of the plane. She watched as the little green dot that was Atella move closer and closer to the center of the city, and started to relax slightly. If anyone could find Loki and keep him under control, it was her. Trying to take her mind off of her friend, she turned to the Captain sitting behind her.

"Are you ready to see some action again?"

He looked up from his hands and smiled sadly at her. "Unfortunately, I think that I have seen enough action in my lifetime."

Of course he had. That was the wrong thing to say to him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring back any memories or anything."

"No… it's okay. I just thought that after the war was over, the world would be at peace for a while. From my understanding, there have been many other wars and conflicts since then. I had hoped that the world would never need anyone like me again."

"People kill. It isn't a silly idea to want peace, but I do think that it is an impossible one. The day when people stop killing each other will never happen. It's something that I had to realize a long time ago."

"Maybe this will unite everyone, you know, if we do go to war. Everyone will have a common enemy then," Steve said in a bitter tone.

"Maybe. After that they will probably just go back to blaming each other for their own problems and we will be right back where we started. The world is always going to need you and people like you Captain, and that is nothing to be sad about. The world is the way it is, and we can't change that, but you bring happiness and hope into it. That's a reason to keep fighting."

Steve didn't say anything for a few seconds, then gave her a real smile and said, "Well… I suppose that I can get behind that. Yes Agent, I am ready."

8-8-8-8

Atella could see the building now. It was at the center of a large square in the city, and the square was completely filled with people; men that were in suits and jackets, and women in dresses. On the way over here through the city, Atella had reached out into people's minds and concealed herself completely, but she didn't anticipate how many people would be here. She seriously doubted if she could hide herself completely from this many people, but she could just give herself a different outfit. That would be far easier. She looked around and saw a guest of the party that was looking in her direction. Before his eyes could pass over to the spot she was standing in, she reached out to his mind and made herself visible to him.

Instead of wearing a black jumpsuit, he saw her in a beautiful dark blue, almost black, full length dress. Instantly, his focus zoomed in on her and his eyes looked at her from head to toe hungrily.

_Well, at least it works, _Atella thought before walking though the crowd of people to the entrance of the enormous building in front of her. When she got to the security at the door, she took complete control of the man's mind and he stepped aside for her to enter.

Once she was inside, she took a moment to look at her surroundings. Other than on missions, she had never really been in a place as fancy as this. It was nice.

She continued to walk throughout the foyer until she got into the main room where it was the most crowded. She was still in awe of the place and was looking around when she spotted him. He was standing at the very top of the stairs at the balcony and was watching everyone below him. She continued to walk across the room to the stairs, trying hard not to look right at him. Just as before she reached the stairs, she felt someone touch her arm and turned around.

"Hello, I don't think that I have ever seen you before. May I ask who you are?" said an older man in a tuxedo. He didn't look suspicious of her, and a quick look into his mind showed his thoughts were anything but honest.

She smiled at him, and with a thought, made him turn away and walk into the crowd and away from her. Her eyes quickly shot up to where Loki had been standing and she almost jumped, but thanks to years of training, she managed to stifle that reflex. He was staring right at her, right into her eyes. She quickly looked away from him and acted as though she was just embarrassed at the attention, and tried to disappear into the crowd.

As she was walking through the people and away from the stairs, she grabbed on to someone else's mind that she saw facing Loki's direction and looked through his eyes. Loki was still watching her, not blinking at all. Atella continued to look at the random man's mind and watched Loki watching her. To seem less suspicious, she tried to make small talk with a woman standing near her, and, eventually, Loki turned away from her and started walking up the stairs.

Atella let go of the man's mind and turned away from the woman, who was in the middle of a sentence, and made her way back to the stairs. Sure enough, Loki was nowhere to be seen. She started to reach out then, searching his mind.

It didn't take long, and it was surprisingly easy to find him. She could feel him there, but didn't dare to enter his head yet. His mind was so different from everyone else's, and it was most likely because he was an alien. She didn't dare look around his thoughts yet. Some average people, if they were paying attention, could feel a slight uncomfortable feeling if she probed too far into their mind suddenly. She was sure that Loki would be able to feel something the instant she entered his mind. For now, he was just there; like when you smell the ocean, and you can't see it, but you know it's there.

He seemed to be several floors above her, and, from his steady position, he wasn't moving. This already made part of her job easier for her since she didn't have to corner him on her own anymore. He had already done that for her.

She walked up the stairs and turned the corner to find herself in a painfully white hallway with several doors on either side. She went to the one closest on her right and found it to be unlocked. She opened it and peeked in, and saw that it was a giant bathroom on the other side, and slipped in. She let go of everyone's mind and instantly felt relief. It took more concentration than she realized to hide herself from everyone in the room, and she felt slightly tired from it.

Atella took a guess that Loki would be able to sense her presence if she got to close to the room that he was in. She turned on her communicator to talk to Natasha.

"Is everything going okay?" Natasha asked as soon as it turned on.

"Yeah, everything is fine. I have a location on Loki. He is in the building on the forth floor, but I don't have a room to tell you an exact place. I am still on the second floor in a bathroom, but I'm not sure what I should do next. Do you want me to just wait for you guys?"

"No," Natasha said. "We are still about ten or fifteen minutes out, and there is no guarantee that he won't try to leave. You need to make sure he stays on that floor, but don't confront him if you don't have to. Just make sure that he doesn't get away. Do you copy?"

"Copy," Atella said. Nervousness started to set in again as she turned off her communicator, but she quickly pushed it aside. There was no time to over think the situation. She needed to get in and get out, doing whatever needed to be done in-between.

She searched for people outside the door, and, finding none, quickly slipped out of the room. She began to focus on Loki's mind again, but he still had not moved at all. Using the rest of her concentration, she hide herself from his eyes only, and blocked her mind from his just in case.

She moved silently, as only an agent of SHIELD can, and quickly made her way down the hallway to the other staircase and started climbing up to the forth floor. She managed to make it all the way up without encountering another person, and turned the corner to walk down the hallway to the room where she felt Loki's presence.

Just as she rounded the corner she came face to face with him. He was just standing there looking. He did not even blink when she almost ran into him. She quickly tried to reach out to him and grab his mind before he realized she was standing there, but as she went towards him, she felt nothing. There were no thoughts or anything. She walked over to him and stared him straight in the eyes and tried again, but she still didn't feel a thing.

She walked around behind him, but he still didn't move a muscle. He wasn't frozen, because she could still see him breathing, but he just wasn't moving. She was standing to his left behind him, and, curiosity getting the best of her, reached out and poked him on the shoulder.

Two things happened at once. The first was that her finger went right through him, and he seemed to disappear for a split second, almost like a flash. The second thing that happened was that he whipped around and was staring right into her eyes.

"Ah," he said with a grin," so there is someone there. Please, join me. I'm sure that you will be able to find me." Then he disappeared for good.

Atella couldn't even move for a few moments. She was in complete shock. He had a hologram of himself, that's why she couldn't see his mind. But, why didn't he just kill her just now if he knew someone was there? She still had hold of his mind, and could feel him walking around the room he was in. He was pacing back and forth, waiting on her. She made herself visible to him again; there was no sense in hiding if he already knew that she was there.

He was in the room all the way at the end of the hallway, and Atella took her time walking there. She thought about informing Natasha, but she had to nearly be here. Instead, she grabbed the large knife from her back and took a moment to prepare her mind. There was going to be a fight soon.

She grabbed the doorknob of the room, and felt him stop walking. He knew she was there. She turned the handled and walked into the room, knife in hand.

Their eyes locked as soon as they saw each other. They stood there staring at each other for a long time. At least a minute went by before Atella was the first to move. She still hand her hand on the doorknob, and took a moment to step further in the room and close the door. Loki still had not said a word and was just watching her. Atella tensed up, preparing for a surprise attack, but it never came. He didn't do anything, and she didn't feel him trying to get into her head either. He seemed relaxed, as though this were his house and his room.

Finally, just as she was about to speak, he beat her to it and said, "Who are you?"

"What? You haven't made Barton tell you about every single person inside of SHIELD?" Atella said hatefully. Fury had told her how Barton had been captured along with the scientist Eric Selvig, and that they had somehow been brainwashed into helping Loki. From what the agency could tell, they were both still alive.

Loki shook his head no slightly, his eyes remaining on her and said, "I thought he did, but you are different. How did you hide yourself from me?"

His expression was somewhere between curiosity and… fear perhaps? So he really had no idea about her. She took his momentary distraction to look around the room. It was completely empty save for a few pieces of plastic hanging up as well as several cans of paint. It was clearly being remodeled.

Atella smiled. "I have tricks of my own, but you don't need to know about any of that. If you try to leave this room, I will kill you."

Loki laughed softly. "Can you kill a god?"

"Can you?" Atella said instantly. She never thought of herself once in her life, but the less that he truly knew of her, the better at this point.

Loki looked taken aback for a second, but composed himself again. "You're just as human as the next pathetic inhabitant of this place. Don't try lying to me." He started walking towards her, slowly and lazily. "However, there is something about you that is so… powerful and courageous. I need someone like that on my side." He was standing right in front of her now, but she still didn't move.

She stared him right in the eye and said, "I will never be on your side."

He laughed that soft laugh again and said, "We will see about that."

He raised the cane in his hand and as he did it became the golden spear that Fury had warned her about. Instinct took over, and just before the tip touched her chest, she turned into her diamond form. A light click was heard as it came in contact with her chest, but nothing happened.

Loki did not look surprised in the least. If anything, he looked even more curious about her. "I knew there was something different about you."

"That's not all that's different."

And with that, Atella's mind took full control of Loki's. Smashing through what ever barriers stood in her way. He dropped his spear, grabbed his head, and dropped to his knees, but he didn't make a sound. His face was a mask of pain as he tried to push her out, but he was much weaker than she expected. She tightened her hold on his mind and made sure that it hurt him to where he wouldn't be able to move. The only sounds he made in response was a loud grunt, but was silent again.

The god's head was bowed, and he was on one knee in front of Atella, as though he was praying to her. His body started to tremble from the amount of pain Atella was forcing upon him, as well as the effort he was making to get her out.

Atella, on the other hand, stood straight with her knife raised in her hand just incase he was tricking her. There was no way that he was getting away from her tonight, especially since it had been this easy to capture him in the first place. Atella was so wrapped up in her own thoughts and concentration on keeping Loki contained that she nearly lost everything when she heard his voice in her head.

_"What are you?" _the god thought to her. Even his thoughts sounded pained.

_"I'm just one of many pathetic humans,"_ Atella thought back in a hollow tone. To make sure he wouldn't be saying anything else, she briefly tighten her hold on his mind, and he cried out for the first time in response, but was silent again after that.

He was still sitting up on one knee, which surprised Atella. Normal humans would probably be dead by now, but he wasn't even on the verge of passing out yet. Although, she couldn't expect anything less from a god.

Convinced that he wouldn't be able to move, let alone attack her, she walked around Loki and to the other side of the room, where a huge window took up an entire wall. This part of the house faced the backside of the building, and she could see a couple of security guards patrolling the area around the premises.

She glanced back to Loki just in time to see one trembling hand grasp the spear and aim it at her. From his kneeling position on the ground, he quickly fired a small blast at her that she just barely managed to avoid, but it seemed to dissipate in midair, leaving the window behind her intact. In the sudden chaos, her mind faltered and she felt herself being shoved completely out of his mind, which she could tell was a huge effort on his part.

She quickly changed into her diamond form and whipped around to find him on his feet again, but this time, a dangerous look in his eye and a smile on his face.

"That was very effective, Agent. I don't think that I have met someone that can completely incapacitate another solely with the mind. Now, if you could just stop all of that," he pointed to her knife in her hand with his spear," we can get this all over with."

Atella smirked at him. "Try touching me with that. I dare you."

"I really don't want to risk killing you."

Atella outright laughed. "You can't do shit to me while I'm like this," she said tapping her leg with the tip of her knife and getting a satisfying _clink _in response.

"We will see about that," he said quietly.

Suddenly, another bolt of energy was sent her way again, but this time, she didn't take her eye off of him as she dodged it. Before she stood back up, she took out two of her smaller knives from her legs and threw them at him. They were not throwing knives, but they would get the job done. They both did an unnatural curve and went around him, and imbedded themselves up to the hilt in the wall behind him. Just as she suspected, throwing them wouldn't work.

As she was trying to think of another plan of attack, he unexpectedly leaped from his place at the center of the room to where she was standing and landed in front of her. His hand found her throat and squeezed. At first she didn't feel anything at all. Atella started laughing darkly. Loki merely tightened his grip, but she still couldn't feel a thing.

"This can get very bad for you very quickly," he said. "You have no idea what I am capable of."

"You have no idea what I am capable of either."

"If you do not resume your human form, I will kill you," he said simply, as though explaining a math problem to her.

"Go for it."

His grip instantly doubled, and Atella was lifted off of her feet. Surprisingly, she began to feel pressure at her neck. She usually couldn't feel a single thing when in diamond form. Soon, she could feel her air being cut off, and she began to hear sounds as though glass was breaking.

"What do you say now, Agent? Can we stop this so that I can finish my job here?"

Atella did not know what to do. The moment she changed back into her human form, his grip would surely crush her spine. It was a good thing that surrendering was not an option.

The entire time his hand was around her neck, her hands were at her sides. She waited until she felt his grip tighten again, then she brought her hands up to his arm as though she was trying to pry him off. He smiled sadistically at her as she started flailing, but his happiness was short lived.

Right as her hand went down again, she flicked her wrist and her dagger slide down into her open palm. Before Loki had time to register any of this, she brought the dagger down hard on his arm.

He hissed in pain and dropped her, and she wasted no time in plunging two more daggers into his chest. He stood there for a split second in shock, then pulled them both out with a growl. Rounding on her with a crazed look in his eye, he punched her in the face before she had time to move.

The last thing she saw was the god of mischief raising his spear in his bloody hands, and bringing it down upon her head.

8-8-8-8

When Atella woke up, she was surrounded by doctors and fellow agents of SHIELD. She was back on the helicarrier. When she picked her head up to get a better look around, she saw Natasha push her way through the other people in the room to her side.

"Okay, she is awake, everyone get out," she yelled at the other agents in the room. She turned to the doctors and said, "You guys too. She's fine. Go." Then, she angrily turned to Atella. "You said that you wouldn't do anything rash," she said sternly, but at the same time looking relieved.

"What happened? Did Loki get away?" Atella asked groggily.

"No, we got him. Ironman showed up and it was all over from there," Natasha replied.

"How long have I been out?"

"Honestly… about five hours… is there anything that you haven't told us about yourself?"

Atella laid her head back down annoyed. SHIELD always had to know every little detail of her life. "Like what?"

"Like having accelerated healing maybe? You only had a gash on you when we found you, but there was so much blood that we knew something else had to have happened."

"Yeah, I stabbed Loki. A lot," Atella said dryly.

"We know. We asked him if he knew anything about your condition, and he thought you were dead. He actually seemed very surprised when we told him that you were still alive."

The last few seconds before Atella was knocked out started coming back to her. "Yeah… I was… he, Loki, hit me in the head with his spear thing. That's the last thing that I can remember.

"The doctors took some x-rays when we first got you back here. They showed some signs that your skull had been cracked. Actually, more than cracked, shattered. Atella, we think you were dead for a while. Were you all… shiny when it happened?"

Atella tried to remember, but everything was still a bit dark. "I think so. I remember thinking that the spear wouldn't hurt me, but I was clearly wrong."

Natasha nodded at her. "I think that is what saved your life. Nothing has ever been strong enough to hurt you while you were in your diamond skin. I guess that if something does manage to break through, you will heal right back up."

Atella tried sitting up, and found it quiet easy. Natasha didn't try to stop her either. "Well, that's comforting. I guess I really am invincible, huh?"

Natasha face grew hard and she said, "Don't try it again. Next time you might not be so lucky. The doctors think that you are okay to leave whenever you want. Report to Fury as soon as you do."

With those parting words, Natasha left Atella along with only her thoughts to keep her company.

8-8-8-8

Barton would have already got the material that he needed, and should be on his way back to Selvig by now. Loki had been captured, just as he had wanted to be, and everything went according to plan. Except for that one little hitch.

He learned that her name was Atella Vorst. So far, she was the only human on this planet that had genuinely managed to impress him. When he thought he had killed her, he had immediately regretted not just capturing her. It had all worked out though. She had managed to survive the blow, to his even greater surprise, and was now on this floating land in the sky with him.

He needed her to join him. He already had enough people to do his grunt work, but he needed someone to watch his back when he was otherwise occupied. She would be perfect. Invincible, able to read minds, and, it didn't hurt that she was a SHIELD agent. She would probably know even more of their dirty secret than Barton since she could pick what she wanted from anyone's mind.

Loki had never seen telepathy quiet like her's before. He tried mastering that sort of magic in the past, but he was never very good at it. It took too much concentration, and there were so many easier methods for achieving the same goals. He could never control people fully enough to do his bidding, which is why he had to use his spear. But this woman, this woman could do everything with minimal effort that was a challenge for him. She could have every power on this planet working for him if he wanted her to.

She was also a talented manipulator. When he saw her from his place on the balcony at the party, he had known that there was something odd about her. At times, she seemed a bit shaky and see through, much like when he made copied of himself to trick others. It wasn't until he had looked into her eyes that he had seen just how powerful she was.

The other thing was her skin. He had literally never seen anything quite like her diamond skin. It was so flawless and beautiful, and he had never thought that about any person before in his life. She was dangerous, and she knew it.

If any of these mortals were going to challenge him, it was going to be Atella Vorst.

8-8-8-8

Before you guys lose faith in the story, Loki and Atella don't actually start liking each other until the next chapter. They really hate each other right now, but, if anything, they do admire each other's skills.

I am glad that you guys are liking the story. I really didn't think anyone would, mostly because I didn't really have a plan for it. BUT, you guys can help me out with that by leaving a review and letting me know what you would like to see happen, or any constructive criticisms or suggestions you might have.


	3. Nowhere Lullaby

Hey everyone, I got some wonderful reviews on my last chapter, and I just wanted to thank a few people before I begin.

**Sam0728**- Thank you so much for your advice, and kind words. Thankfully, this is the part of the story that I had my original idea for, so the chapters are getting easier to write.

**ViolentAlice-** One of the reasons that i really wanted to write this was because of how other stories were portraying Loki. I think that he is out of character for more than half of them, and that is okay, but just not the way I wanted to see him in my story. I am trying to make Atella as well rounded as I can, but I will admit that it is going to get a bit challenging to keep Loki in character as well as Atella in the later chapters. Love is a feeling that neither of them have felt before, so it is going to be interesting incorporating that into the characters.

**Bleedingcrimson-** There have only been a couple of things that I wish that I would have changed, but I am making them work for me. Thank you so much for reading, and I'm glad that you are enjoying my story.

**Boneskatana** and **Azura Soul Reaver-** I'm really glad that you guys dig the healing abilities. That is something that I thought would be handy for later chapters, but I wasn't sure how everyone would take it. I don't want to make her too powerful.

Everyone else, I know that I missed people that have reviewed since the first chapter, but I don't want to take up too much room in this thanking people. I will try to personally reply to everyone that I missed in the upcoming days. Thanks for all of your wonderful words of encouragement!

The last thing that I wanted to say is that I will be altering the time frame of the movie. In the movie, Loki is only in the cell for a few days at the most. In this, it will be several weeks that he will be held prisoner. I just wanted to warn you all before I went on.

8-8-8-8

Atella decided to take another nap before she left the hospital. She had no idea when she would be able to get a decent night sleep again and wanted to take the advantage when she could. Her dreams were plagued by the moment just before the spear came crashing down on her head. In her dream, she could feel the pain and hear the crunch as her diamond skin and skull shattered into tiny pieces. She dreamed that she never woke up from it, and that the world was lost to Loki and his army. She dreamed of millions of deaths and the destruction of every city or town on Earth. She dreamed all of this, but did not awake for hours.

When she did open her eyes, she nearly screamed as she found one eye looking back at her. Nick Fury was standing at the foot of her bed.

"Bad dream, Agent?" he said while his one eye drilled itself into her own eyes.

"A bit, but given what just happened, I'm not surprised," Atella said while attempting to sit up.

Fury regarding her for a moment before saying, "Do you feel well enough for another mission?"

Atella dropped her hand that was rubbing her face, looked at Fury and said, "Is everything still okay? Did something happen?"

"Everything is fine, Agent. We just need you and your talents. Nobody else can do this except for you."

Atella stood up beside her bed. She felt no different then she had the previous morning. She was completely healed.

"Where will I be going?" she asked.

"Not far."

8-8-8-8

Fury took Atella deep within the helicarrier where his office was located. There was a rather large table and several chairs in the room, where a man was already sitting in one.

"Agent Vorst, this is Thor, Loki's brother. Thor, this is Atella Vorst, one of our best agents," Fury said as soon as the entered the room.

Thor and Atella merely nodded at each other and waited for Fury to continue.

"We have no time to waste. Loki refuses to tell us where the Tesseract is and we do not have that long to find it. I am sure he has other people that are taking care of things while we have him locked up here, so time is of the essence. They will make an attack on the ship if they find the location, but until that happens, and when it does, we cannot afford to lose Loki."

Thor and Atella looked at each other at this pause. What did he want them to do?

"It boils down to this. You two are the only ones that are strong enough to contain him should he try to escape at any point in time. Stark told me that you," he nodded to Thor, "crushed the arm of his suit when you guys had your tiff in the forest. If you have that kind of strength, we can't risk the chance of your brother doing the same thing. Stark is out. Banner is not an option for obvious reasons, and, while the Captain is strong, he proves no match for Loki. Nobody else is powerful enough for this challenge."

At this point, Atella was dumbfounded. She could feel herself giving Fury a ridiculous look, and quickly closed her open mouth and said, "Um… I'm not sure what you were told, but Loki nearly broke my neck, in my other form, and he crushed my skull. How exactly am I strong enough to watch over him?"

"As far as I can tell, you lasted a hell of a lot longer than anyone else would have. Don't let him get his hands around your neck," Fury said.

Atella was still doubtful and opened her mouth to protest again, but Fury cut her off.

"You are an agent of SHIELD, and you are trained to change your tactics from target to target. You've fought him once already, you know his tricks and you know his weaknesses. I would not send you to your death. I know that you can handle it," Fury's voice was hard, but only after years of knowing him did Atella realize that he was trying to calm her down.

She nodded. "What exactly are we to do?"

Fury almost smiled, but caught himself at the last second. "You will be watching over him twenty-four seven. We cannot risk leaving anyone else to watch him. Thor will watch him during the night, Vorst, you will take over for him during the day. It will be harder for them to attempt to break Loki out of the cell while we are in the air, so this ship will not be landing until we have the Tesseract, so I cannot tell either of you how long you will have to do this."

"I thought that you had him in that cage that you had made for Banner? Does he really need added protection?" Atella said doubtfully.

"Maybe, maybe not. I would rather not risk it since we have people to spare."

Atella nodded. There really was no sense in taking that had been quiet the entire time. He looked deep in thought, and only when Atella and Fury both look at him did he say anything.

"My brother… hates me," Thor said. Atella could tell that it pained him to say it. "I fear that my presence in his company would only anger him. I am sorry, but I do not want to risk putting the people on board this vessel in danger."

Fury thought for a second on what the god just said. "Vorst cannot watch him all day, we will need someone else in there."

"I can hide him," Atella said. "I hid myself from Loki at the party. I just I mean, it worked for me. It's worth a shot."

"How are you going to sleep if you're busy keeping Thor invisible?"

Atella shrugged. "It really isn't too hard with one person, and since I have been connected to Loki's mind before, it will be easy to keep the connection this time around."

"Won't he be aware of you invading his mind?" Fury asked.

"Possibly. As long as I am subtle with it, he shouldn't suspect anything more than me keeping an eye on him. But you," she said and turned to Thor, "you need to keep quiet while you're in there. I can only hide you, not any noises you make."

Thor sat back in the chair and rubbed his chin. "It wouldn't hurt to try it, but if he detects me, I shall not do it again.

"Then it is agreed. You two shall watch over the prisoner Loki until the entire thing is sorted out. Agent Vorst, your first shift starts now," Fury said, already walking out of the room, leaving Thor and Atella alone together inside the office.

Thor glanced over at her, but Atella was too wrapped up in her thoughts to notice.

"Forgive me for asking," he said carefully, "but I have heard rumors and stories of your powers and I am intrigued. Could I see first hand what you are capable of?"

Atella looked over at him. She rarely noticed the looks of others, but she had to admit that he was one of the most handsome men that she had ever seen. He was a god after all.

Atella smiled and said, "Of course. Since we are going to be working together you should understand me, and I need to understand you. I'm guessing that you can control the lightning? And, I'm guessing that you are very strong." Atella eyed his arms and couldn't imagine this man being weak.

Thor laughed the jovial laugh of a god or king. "What you guess is true. Coulson tells me that you too are strong, but it is of the mind rather than the flesh."

"Yes. I can control the minds of others. I can see what they are thinking. I can see their memories, and I can see what they are seeing in the present. I can make them see whatever it is I want them to… or not to see. If I want, I can make them feel pain like they have never felt in their life before, or, I can make them be the happiest they have ever been. I can make them move and carry out tasks," she said and shrugged. "There really is no limit to what I can do with their minds."

Thor was sitting forward in his seat, mesmerized. "And that makes you a dangerous opponent. My brother was always more intrigued with fighting with the mind than fighting with the fists. Perhaps you can discuss it with him. It wouldn't hurt to gain his trust."

"That's a good idea. Perhaps I will. When I fought him at that party, his mind was a lot easier to penetrate than I thought it would be. Why is that?"

Thor scratched at his beard thoughtfully. "As I understand it, this gift you possess is natural. Correct?"

Atella nodded. "As natural as it can be."

"Where I come from, I think that control over another's mind is a very high form of magic. While Loki is a talented sorcerer, I do not think that he ever practiced in that particular area. It would be understandable that he could not match someone that did not have to learn the art. I am sure that if he could do what you can, he would have attempted to seize control of our father's throne a lot sooner."

Atella didn't say anything. What he said made sense, and actually made her feel relieved that her temporary victory wasn't just a fluke. She really was stronger than Loki when it came to the mind. Thor's next words shook her out of her thoughts.

"Can I see what you can do with your skin? … How you change, I mean," he said stumbling over his words slightly.

Atella laughed and said, "Of course."

She stood up and walked over to stand a few feet in front of where Thor was sitting. When she stood in front of him, he sat up in his chair slightly, as though he didn't know what to expect. Atella took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She felt the cool sensation take over her body, and heard Thor's intake of breath. She opened them to find him staring at her with a child-like amazement. He stood up from his chair and walked over to her.

"May I?" he asked.

"Go ahead," Atella said. Her voice always came out slightly deeper and more rough when she was like this.

She held out her hand for him to touch, and he grasped it gently in his own two hands and held it up to his face to examine it. He moved her fingers back and forth, watching how they moved, and squeezed her palm gently.

"This is incredible. I have never seen anything like this in any world that I have ever been to." He dropped her hand carefully down by her side. "I have faith that you are more than a worthy opponent for my brother. I will relieve you of your shift at nightfall." Thor tipped his head slightly to her, and walked out of the room, leaving Atella all alone.

_Well, _she thought. _I better get re-acquainted with the other god on this ship._

8-8-8-8

Atella wasted no time getting to Loki's prison. She didn't want Fury to lose anymore faith in her than he already had. When she came to the iron door that led into the room, she found two guards stationed by it. She waited for one of them to address her or question her presence in this particular part of the helicarrier, but they simply stood aside and let her pass. Fury must have informed them of her new duty.

When she walked through to the other side of the door, she found at least five other guards standing around the cell that Loki was sitting in. All of the guards had giant guns that could rip a normal human in half with one bullet. They probably wouldn't even pierce the skin of the Asgardian. The god had his head down and was looking at his hands, and only looked up when Atella spoke.

"All of you are relieved," she said to the guards. "There isn't any reason you need to be here now that I'm here."

The guards did not say anything to her, but filed out of the room and left. When the last man walked through the door, Atella turned her attention on the only other person left in the room.

"Did Fury come by and explain how things are going to work around here?"

Loki stood up from his bench and walked over to where Atella was standing by the cell door. "Oh yes. He told me of how this prison works. One false move and you will send me plunging into oblivion. Am I correct?" He stopped a safe distance from the thick glass standing between them.

"Half. See, we cannot afford to kill you just yet. Not until we can locate the Tesseract, as well as anyone that you have taken hostage. Oh, and you can tell me any time we want where the Tesseract is. It would really make things go a lot faster, and I really want to go back on vacation. Point being, if you decide to get a bit rowdy in here, it will be my job to calm things down as humanely as I possibly can."

Loki laughed. "Did they not see what kind of state you were left in after our first meeting? Or did you volunteer for this to prove yourself?"

Atella took a few steps back and sat down on the floor Indian style. "I have nothing to prove to anyone, least of all SHIELD. They know fully well what I am capable of, you don't. If they put me in here with you, then they know that I can handle myself. You, on the other hand, have only seen me on a bad day. That will never happen again."

"Ah, but how can you be so sure of such things. I have indeed only seen you in action during our last little chat we had. However, fortunately for me, I have seen your true spirit Agent of SHIELD, and I do not fear you anymore than I fear the next mortal. You possess a great talent, but it is not enough. You are not enough to face what is coming to your planet, and you are not enough to face me. We will fight each other again, but this time, I will make sure that you are dead, and it will be far slower than it was the last time."

Atella said nothing. She had her head down and was staring at the floor beneath her. Loki smirked. "Have you realized just how weak and helpless you are, Agent?"

"No. I became incredibly bored about a quarter way through that speech of your's, and I nearly fell asleep, but then I realized how uncomfortable this floor is, so I'm gonna go get a chair before my ass falls asleep. You sit tight."

Atella stood up, and took one last look Loki staring at her before she laughed and exited the room in search of a comfy chair.

8-8-8-8

Loki watched the mortal leave the room, and felt his confidence flicker slightly. There was a lot to this woman, and he wasn't sure 'mortal_' _wasn't the best way to describe her anymore. He thought back to the previous night, to the moment of her apparent death. Even during the moment before his staff came in contact with her head, he already deeply regretted his decision. She was too powerful to kill. There was so much potential just waiting to be unleashed. If she could render him incapacitated with a mere thought, who is to say she couldn't take on Odin herself? It was a stretch, but one that was worth trying.

He sorely wanted her on his side, something that was a new feeling to him. Loki always considered himself a loner, never wanting to needing to rely on anyone but himself. Even enlisting in the help of Selvig and Barton was a huge leap for him, but he could not have hoped to move forward without them.

Perhaps he just needed to find the right person to be there with him permanently. She seemed reliable enough, and, if he could sway her loyalties, she would be the perfect right hand man. Someone to do all of the dirty work for him.

The real question was if he could persuade her to betray the people that she had known her entire life. He could never get her to go with him against her will, and he really didn't have the patience to even try that. But, there was something about her posture, about her voice that made Loki think she held a shred of resentment towards the place that she called home. From what he could gather, SHIELD did not always treat its employees fairly. Someone like Atella, who had just as much pride as Thor, would not take kindly to that sort of treatment for too long.

Loki was certain that would be her weakness. That is what he would go after, but, if he was going to play this game, it would have to be done carefully, for playing a mind game with a master over the minds of others was a dangerous game to be playing.

8-8-8-8

Atella returned a few short minutes later with a collapsible lounge chair in her arms. When she walked through the door she said, "You didn't blow anything up while I was gone did you?"

Loki was still standing where Atella had left him. "Agent, if there was any way that I could blow something up without being shot out of this aircraft, I would have done so while you were in the room."

"Great. Hey, if you do manage to kill me and break out of here, will you let Agent Barton know that I took his chair? His room was the closest, and it seems as though this is the only chair in this place," Atella said while unfolding the chair and sitting down heavily in it.

Loki said nothing, but just watched her. Atella could tell that he was lost in his own thoughts. His eyes had a far away look that people got when they were only concerned with what was happening in their own minds.

"Oh, that reminds me," Atella said. "Part of this whole guard duty thing is also guarding your mind as well. I guess they want to make sure that you don't do any magic stuff to this place, but that's just me assuming that the whole magic thing is done with your mind, right?"

Loki turned to face her completely once more. "What I do would be too complicated for your foolish mortal mind to understand," he said proudly.

Atella laughed. "Yeah, okay. If I get too bored watching you, I'll just do a quick look through your mind and learn everything that you know about the subject. Every little spell, potion, or hex that you know, I will know. You just keep that in mind."

Now it was Loki's turn to laugh. "You truly are a simple speices. Magic can only be done by those of Asgard. It would require a miracle to perform even the simplest of spells."

"Bummer. Well, that brings me back to my original point. SHEILD wants me to not only watch you, but your mind as well. I am going to keep a constant telepathic connection between us. I won't go as far as to read your thoughts, but if you begin to do anything that threatens the people on the helicarrier, I will render you completely defenseless and bring a thousand life times of pain upon you. Do I make myself clear?"

Loki smiled. "Completely. When will this invasion of my mind begin?"

"It already has," Atella said.

8-8-8-8

Loki became still for a moment, and closed his eyes. He could feel something there, in his mind, but only just. It was as though there was a very light touch on the top of his head, and if he didn't know to look for it, he wouldn't have know that it was there.

He opened his eyes and looked at the mortal sitting in front of him. She continued to surprise him. From her telepathic skills to her defensive properties, everything about her amazed him.

He focused on the connection between them again, and tried to follow it into Atella's mind. He was immediately thrown out with such force that he grunted out loud. Her mind was so powerful. She could probably completely crush him without any effort, yet she was so gentle and subtle with the connection she had just created. She could do anything she wanted to, yet she chose to bow down to the pathetic humans that ruled her life.

Loki stopped this train of thought and looked back to the woman sitting in front of him. She was pissed. Her blue eyes were staring right into his green ones.

"If you try that again," she said slowly, "I will destroy you without a second thought."

He only nodded his head in understanding. He knew that she could do much more than destroy him, and he knew that there would be no way to stop it.

8-8-8-8

It was nearly six in the evening when Atella finally moved from her chair. Both her and Loki had been lost in their own thoughts ever since he tried to look into her mind. While Atella was thinking about how Thor's shift was going to go, and if they would be successful in hiding him, Loki was thinking of possible ways to persuade Atella to join him.

As soon as Atella stood up, Loki did the same. She gave him a weird look and said, "It's a bit late for you to start acting like a gentlemen."

Loki hesitated a second and glanced at the camera that was monitoring the room before touching the connection to Atella's mind. She narrowed her eyes at him as soon as she felt him take hold of it, but he didn't go any further.

Instead, she heard him inside of her head say, _"Is this what you really want? Babysitting a man when you could be ruling over everyone that calls this planet home? You could be a god."_

Atella let the tension fall from her shoulders. _"Unlike you, Loki, I do not have an obsession for wanting to boss people around. I am fine where I am, and, to be honest, I consider this a challenge. You're welcome."_

_"I don't believe you. I can see your misery hanging off of you, weighing you down. I can offer you so much more than they can,"_ Loki said taking a few steps closer to her.

Atella walked right up to the glass door, and stared him down with her ice blue eyes. "I will never join you. I will never stand on your side and attack my planet or the people that live here. Don't try that bullshit with me again because my answer will remain the same."

Loki walked over to the glass and stood right in front of her with his hands behind his back. "With time, you will realize your potential, and you will be full of regret. Think about what I said."

Atella didn't answer the god that was smirking at her as if he knew something she did not. She couldn't take another minute of his smug attitude, and they had barely talked at all today. She quickly turned around and grabbed her chair and started dragging it towards the door out of the room.

"Wait," Loki called after her, "I thought that you said you would be guarding me? Are you leaving?"

Atella stopped and sighed. "Yes, because unlike you, I actually need to sleep every night. You will have your old friends back in a few minutes, so play nice until tomorrow." With that, she left the room, chair and all.

Loki stared after her for a moment. Something wasn't right. SHIELD wouldn't risk leaving him unattended without take extra precautions, but, sure enough, mere seconds after Atella left several guards came filing through the door. Loki looked at each one of them and immediately knew them to be mortals. However, he felt a presence in the room that he knew not to be mortal. A presence that he had felt for most of his life. A presence that he hated.

"Come on out, brother. I know you're here."

8-8-8-8

I was planning on Loki finding out about Thor much later, but then I realized that Loki is too smart for that kind of thing. I like this better.

This chapter was named after 'Nowhere Lullaby' by Built To Spill. I was listening to it while I was writing this.

Let me know if you guys like where this is going :)


	4. Mango

Hey guys! I just wanted to do a quick note at the beginning to clear a few things up in this chapter.

I mention the organization SWORD once in here, and, for those of you that don't know, they are pretty much exactly like SHIELD. The difference is that, while SHIELD deals with superhuman activity and military things, SWORD deals primarily with the protection of Earth against extraterrestrial activity.

Onward my glorious readers!

8-8-8-8

Atella walked out of Loki's holding cell and into the hallway. There, she found the guards she had dismissed mere hours ago waiting as if they had never left. Standing with those guards was the God of Thunder himself. Thor had a thoughtful look on his face and was absentmindedly swinging his hammer back and forth.

"Thor," Atella said to get his attention.

The god glanced up at her and said, "Atella Vorst, how is my brother?"

"He's," Atella hesitated for a moment, " very distant. He is planning something, but I don't think it is an escape. I don't think he will cause any problems tonight. When you go in, he will be the only one that won't be able to see you. And all of you," she pointed at the guards, "don't look at him. It will ruin this entire plan. Get in there before he suspects anything."

The guards nodded to her, and she nodded back in return before they turn and walked into the room. Thor gave a quick bow of his head before following after them.

Atella sighed and all at once all of the tension and fatigue from the fight the other night came crashing down on her. She was very tempted to just go to sleep in the hallway, but she wanted to wait a bit before she left. Just to make sure everything went somewhat according to plan.

She sat down in the corridor and closed her eyes to concentrate. She didn't want Loki to know how far she was in his mind. When she opened her eyes again, she didn't see the other side of the hallway sitting in front of her, but the guards that had just left the hallway. She was looking through Loki's eyes and listening what he was listening to. She took a quick glance through his thoughts, and knew that he didn't suspect anything was amiss in his head.

However, she nearly gave herself away when she realize he knew Thor was in there. How had he figured it out already? The door had only closed mere seconds ago, yet he was already seething with rage at the thought of his brother watching him.

She heard him say, "Come on out, brother. I know you're here." But Atella still did not reveal Thor, and Thor did not reveal himself either.

Perhaps Loki would convince himself that he was, in fact, insane and leave it alone. Atella seriously doubted that would happen, but it was a nice thought. She waited a few more seconds, holding her breath, but Loki said nothing else. She started to walk away from the cell until...

_"I know what you're doing, Agent. You can't hide my own brother from me."_

_"Did you really think that we were going to leave you unattended, especially at night while people are sleeping. Sorry we had to hide this from you, but we really didn't want you throwing a temper tantrum while people are sleeping."_

_"I don't want to see him. I don't want to be anywhere near him. I won't do anything tonight, just get him out of here," _Loki thought back to her. He had already tore his eyes off of where he knew Thor was standing and had started to pace back and forth in his cell.

Atella laughed even thought she knew he couldn't hear her. _"What? You're promising to be a good little boy now so that you don't have to face your brother? Just to let you know, he isn't exactly thrilled to see you either. I'm going to go ahead and let you see him. You two can work out this family drama. I'm going to bed."_

Atella let go of the part of the mind that controlled Loki's vision, and Thor appeared in the room. She was still looking through Loki's eyes, and they instantly snapped up to meet Thor's when he appeared. Atella could feel all of the anger and hate, but above either of those things, jealousy build up inside of Loki. She was sorely tempted to break their connection then and there, but if something did happen Fury would be pissed.

Still, she stayed seated in the corridor to see what the brothers would do. She didn't have to wait long.

_"Make him leave. You have my word, Agent, I won't cause any trouble. If he stays here, there will be nothing left of your fortress," _she heard Loki say in her head.

_"Lesson one. Deal with your problems, don't just push them aside. There is nothing that you can do inside of that cell. For whatever reason, Thor still loves you and wants you to go back to your home with him."_

_"Go back to be punished? I don't think so. The only way I will return to Asgard is if I am going there to destroy it."_

Atella sighed. _"Goodnight, Loki. Have an awesome time with your brother."_

Atella heard him about to protest but silenced him before he could get a word out. She didn't have to deal with him. Her shift was over.

8-8-8-8

Thor stood looking at Loki uncertainly. Loki wasn't looking back at him. Instead he was staring at a spot on the floor with his brow furrowed.

All of a sudden, he heard Atella inside his head. _"Thor… I just wanted to tell you… maybe it isn't best that you try to talk to him tonight. He isn't taking this very well, and I don't want to risk him attempting to escape so soon after we captured him."_

Thor had never communicated in this manner before. He thought the words inside his head, and hoped that Atella would hear him. _"I will not do anything to upset him tonight, Agent. You have my word."_

It must have worked because Atella responded immediately. _"No, Thor. Don't say anything to him. There is nothing that you can say that will make this better for him. Just… wait. Tonight isn't the night to confront him."_

He didn't like the idea that someone was telling him not to speak to his own brother, but he knew that it was for the best. _"I will do as you say."_

_"I will stay attached to Loki's mind all night. If anything happens, I will know," _she hesitated for a second before saying, _"I am sorry for what is happening."_

_"As am I."_

He turned his attention back to Loki, who was pacing back and forth in the cell, looking anywhere but in Thor's direction. Thor knew that if he were to talk to Loki, he would have to wait until it was on his terms. He thought back to what Fury said to him before he met with him and Atella. "What are you prepared to do?" He knew that the day would come when he would have to fight his brother again, but could he kill him? No. It was not up to him to end Loki's life. It would be up to Odin to decide his fate, but Thor would have no part in that. As far as he was concerned, Loki would forever be his brother, no matter what he has done. There would always be hope for him.

8-8-8-8

Atella wandered aimlessly around the boat for a while, thinking about what Loki had said to her. Many other organizations and criminal groups have tried to recruit her over the years, SWORD included. SWORD was the only one that she took seriously, but, in the end, Atella decided that her talents were better suited for SHIELD. Speaking of SWORD, where in the hell were they? This was more of their thing than SHIELD's. Maybe there was another alien attacking a different part of Earth or something.

Atella didn't realize what part of the ship she was in until she heard talking coming from around the corner. It seemed as thought she had wandered back to Bruce Banner's work space. She peeked through the glass doors and saw, not Banner standing there, but a different man. Someone that she had only seen on TV.

In Atella's opinion, Tony Stark was a genius, and that was all that mattered to her. What the man did in his spare time was none of her business, and, as far as she was concerned, it shouldn't be anyone else's business either.

The man in question looked up when he heard someone approaching and motioned for her inside of the room. She walked to the doors, which opened up automatically for her, and stepped inside.

"Mr. Stark, it's nice to finally meet you. I am very impressed with your armor creation," she said.

Tony had moved over to a table with Loki's staff sitting on it, and was poking and prodding at it with some sort of stick.

He touched the stick to Loki's staff one more time, then sat it down and said, "Atella Vorst, agent of SHIELD. Special skills; superior fighting in hand to hand combat, superior in ranged attacks, daggers in this case, and superior in all melee weapons, but, you prefer knives. Special abilities; telepathy, ability to read thoughts of others as well as inflict pain or death upon them, able to project own thoughts upon others, able to control others. Other abilities include rendering skin to a diamond like strength, metal is unknown, but most likely alien. Strength becomes superhuman when in this form, durability: impenetrable. I read your file."

"I can tell," Atella said.

Tony rubbed his face before saying quickly, "You're completely amazing. What you can do with your skin and your mind… incredible. I would love for you to come to Stark Tower after all of this is over so that we can figure out what exactly that metal is."

Atella had a suspicion that this man just had about ten shots of espresso before she walked into this room. She had never met him in person, but as far as she could tell, he was exactly like how it was in interviews; full of energy. He was walking around her now, looking at her as though she were a puzzle that needing solving.

He was directly behind her now, so she turned to face him and said, "I know that you're a genius-"

"Yes."

"-but the best scientists in the world have tried to get a sample of my skin. It's impossible. Why do you want to know anyway?"

He looked at her incredulously. "Um. Isn't it obvious? It's a new metal. I know it's a stretch, but it could change the world. Wouldn't you want to know if you carried a solution to the world's problems?"

"How exactly is a metal going to change the world? You know what it could change? Your Iron Man armor. It would be really awesome to not have to repair it every time you go on a little outing right?"

Tony walked away from her and back to the table with the staff on it. "I have to admit, that would be a perk if I actually needed it. I like my current armor, and, contrary to what everyone on this ship thinks, not everything is about me."

Atella thought for a second. It really would be cool if he could figure out where this metal came from, or why she could control when it appeared over her skin, or whatever it was that it did. "Sure. I'll do it. It will benefit us both in the end I suppose."

"That's great news! So, what brings you over to this area of Fury's fortress? Wanted to meet me?"

Atella rolled her eyes. So this is why people hated him. He wouldn't get any satisfaction from her. "Actually, I was looking for Banner. Is he here?"

Tony seemed to visibly deflate for a second before he said, "Yeah, well, not right now, but he will be back. He just wanted to clear his head for a bit."

Atella walked over to the table that Tony was standing behind. He was now typing some numbers into a computer. She looked away from him and down to Loki's staff. So this was the thing that managed to break her. She reached her hand out and touched it, only to feel it vibrating lightly beneath her fingertips, but that wasn't the only thing she felt. As soon as she came in contact with it, she felt power like no other. She felt as though the staff had a mind of its own, and it was just waiting to carry out an order from her. Out of curiosity, she reached out with her mind to see if she could feel anything, and, to her disappointment, she could not. If it did have a thought process, it wasn't human enough for her to investigate.

"Uh… Agent? What are you doing?"

Atella let go of the staff and looked over at Tony. He was watching her carefully and looked worried.

"Sorry Mr. Stark… I was just curious. I can feel its power," Atella said.

Tony nodded. "Tony. But yeah, it has so much energy coming off of it, but it's unlike anything we have ever seen. We are analyzing it now."

Atella nodded, but really didn't care about anything he had just said. She was never one for science and math, and found it quite boring.

Just at the moment, she heard the door open again, and looked up to see Bruce Banner walking through it.

He smiled when he saw her and said, "How did you like your quality time with Loki? Was it better than guarding me?"

Atella laughed. "Not really. At least you are human and you aren't so full of yourself that it is literally impossible to carry on a conversation with you. Gods are ridiculous. Actually you two might get along," she said and pointed to Tony.

"Yeah, he seems like a handful. We were watching on the monitors for a while. We both think that he is afraid of you," Banner said while motioning to himself and Tony.

Atella huffed. "Please, why would he be afraid of me? If anything he hates me, or is completely neutral and just sees me as another 'foolish mortal'. Either way, it doesn't matter to. If he really is afraid of me then maybe he won't try anything, including not talking to me, and, if he isn't, then I get to beat the hell out of him eventually."

Tony and Bruce glanced at each other. "Can you really not see it?" Bruce asked. "While the two of you were just sitting there, he kept looking at you, and he looked nervous. I mean, it was subtle, and Tony is the one that noticed, but still… I think you are the only one of us that he is actually worried about."

Atella sputtered for a second, not knowing what to say. Finally she got out, "You are both crazy. He has already killed me once. Why would he be afraid of me?"

"Maybe, and this is just a thought," Tony said. "But perhaps it is because he has killed you once, but you didn't die? Freaks me out and we're on the same side."

Atella gave him a look and said, "Still. He has to know that I can be killed-"

"Can you?" Bruce said. "I can't be killed when I am the other guy… maybe you can't be killed when you're the other you. Something to think about."

Atella was at a lost. The mere idea of a god fearing her was too much for how sleepy she was. She mumbled something to them about going to bed, and having a long day tomorrow, and left. She a lot to sleep on.

8-8-8-8

Atella completely crashed when she got back to her room. She just had enough time to take off her boots before falling onto her bed and falling into a dreamless sleep.

She awoke to the sound of her communication device going off on the table beside her bed. When she realized what was making the noise, she quickly flipped herself over and put the tiny earpiece in her ear.

"Yes, hello?"

She was greeted by Nick Fury's cheerful voice saying, "You were supposed to relieve Thor at 0600 hours. It is now six-thirty. Thor has agreed to stay until you get ready and get something to eat. I'm not going to bother lecturing you on punctuality given what happened the other night, but don't let it happen again. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir. I will relieve Thor at seven."

As expected, Fury didn't bother responding before turning off his device. Atella took the earpiece out and sat it on the bed next to her. She stretched and yawned before running her hands through her hair and standing up. She walked into the bathroom and turned the light on over the sink and stared at the person in the mirror looking back at her.

She looked like hell. Her ice blue eyes were dull and lifeless, and her hair hung limp in her face. She had dark circles around her eyes, making her overall reflection creepy. She shook her head and looked away, reminding herself why she never bothered checking her appearance when she out on missions. It was probably twenty times worse out there. She walked over to the small shower and turned on more hot water than cold, undressed, and stepped inside. As soon as the hot water touched her skin, she felt awake for the first time in days.

She closed her eyes and let her mind drift to what was ahead of her today. She had to watch Loki again. She couldn't stand to just sit there all day again. She would have to bring something to do, even if that just meant reading a book. She heard her stomach growl, and realized that she couldn't remember the last time that she had eaten either. She would swing by the kitchen on the ship and grab a few snacks for the day, and just eat a really huge dinner when she was relieved.

_I wonder if gods need to eat,_ she thought to herself. She doubted that Thor brought anything for Loki. Even if he did, she seriously doubted that he would take anything given to him by his brother.

_"Yes, we do eat. What a stupid question,"_ she heard Loki say in her head.

Good lord. She had almost forgotten that their minds were connected, and, in terms of telepathy, she had basically broadcasted every thought she had that morning to him.

She took a moment to stop being weirded out at the thought of talking to Loki while she was showering and said, _"Since I know so much about Asgardian dietary intake, forgive my momentary stupidity. Are you hungry?"_

_"No."_

_"Wonderful," _she responded and pulled away from him so that he couldn't hear her anymore.

After she was finishing showering, she stepped into her room and dug through her bag for something to wear. She was down to two outfits, and considering that one of those choices was a pair of pajamas, she went with her only other option; a pair of black jeans and a dark blue long sleeved t-shirt. Simple. If it came down to it, she could have wore the uniforms SHIELD provided, but she despised the generic unitard. They were almost too tight to move around in, and she had no idea how Natasha managed to fight in one of them.

She got dressed and walked back into the bathroom to that dreaded mirror again. She looked at her appearance apprehensively only to find that the shower actually helped. Her eyes were now awake and focused, and the piercing blue was once again alive and sharp. Her black hair was still slightly damp, and due to the haircut she got right before she was called in, it was a lot shorter than it usually was. She used to keep her hair so long that she looked like the evil girl from _The Ring_, but now it was cut to right above her shoulders. She looked at it with disdain. As great as it was not having to worry about combing a mess of hair every morning, she knew that if she didn't do something with it that it would just puff out as though she had teased it. She went back to her bag and dug out a hair tie and pulled it all back. Good enough.

After pulling on her boots, the only part of the SHIELD uniform that she was wearing today, she checked the time. She still had ten minutes before she had to be at Loki's cell. She grabbed her communication device, and rushed out of the room, hoping that she still had enough time to get everything she needed for the day.

8-8-8-8

The tension between Thor and Loki did not ease throughout the night. During the last two hours, however, it had got worse. They had settled themselves into a bit of a staring contest; Loki looking at Thor with nothing but hate, and Thor returning that look as though he were silently challenging Loki to do something. Thor kept his promise and had not spoken a word to Loki the entire night.

It was only when they both heard the sound of someone running in the hallway outside of the room did they break the eye contact and look to the door. Atella stepped inside, nearly out of breath, and had, what seemed to be, a very heavy looking bag on her shoulder.

She was panting as she said, "So sorry… Thor… can we talk in the hallway… real quick."

Thor looked mildly alarmed and said, "Are we under attack?"

Atella, still panting, managed to laugh and said, "No… just… come here." She turned and walked out of the room.

The guards stayed behind as Thor followed her out. Loki stared after them curiously, wondering what in the world that was all about.

8-8-8-8

When the door shut behind Thor, Atella instantly asked, "Are you hungry?"

She nearly laughed at seeing the powerful man caught off guard.

"I'm sorry?"

"Like, do you need to eat right now? Have you ate since you got on the helicarrier? How hungry are you?" Atella asked.

"Uh… I'm hungry, yes. If I could ask, why do you want to know?"

"Well, I was thinking about food, and about bring food with me into the cell room today, and that lead me to wonder if you people, Asgardians need to eat. I mean, we can't starve him, can we?" Atella said, nodding towards the door.

Thor frowned slightly. "You are concerned for my brother?"

Atella shrugged. "Not really, but I just think it would help with his attitude if he wasn't starving or anything. There is no way that he would ever ask us for food, so I'm just going to bring it to him."

Thor nodded. "Indeed. I believe that in Asgard, we do require more food than the people here in Midgard. I wouldn't doubt that my brother is very hungry."

"Okay, well I brought some food for him, nothing big, but maybe he will start trusting me more. Ironman and Banner seem to think that your brother is afraid of me. It couldn't hurt to have the whole, feared and respected combination going for me. Do you think that he is actually nervous about me?"

Thor looked her up and down and said, "My brother has always been fascinated by magic. New, old, everything about magic has intrigued him, but what he finds most appealing are the unknown parts of magic. Perhaps he does fear you, Atella, but do not mistake fear for interest. He may only be curious about the secrets of your transformation and your mind."

He paused for a moment, then said, "Do not fall for any of his tricks."

Atella nodded. "I won't. And, thanks, Thor. You are relieved from duty. I will stay an extra hour tonight to make up for my tardiness this morning."

"Thank you Agent Vorst," Thor said.

"Just Atella," she said smiling.

8-8-8-8

Atella walked back into the cell room and dismissed the guards as she did yesterday. There was already a chair waiting for her, but it was near the control panel to the cell. She walked over to the door of the glass prison and dropped her back, and turned to retrieve the chair.

She glanced back at Loki for the first time since entering the room. He was watching her with a look of boredom on his face.

Atella smirked at him. "How was the family reunion?"

His gaze turned menacing. "Quiet, for once."

"Oh, good. I worried that I would wake up to the sounds of you and your brother tearing this place apart. Speaking of which, I see that everything is still intact, meaning that you did not keep your promise and burn it to the ground," she said and grabbed the chair behind her and carried it over to the cell door.

"I stand by what I say, but there is a delay on when I will be able two carry out that promise," he said, standing up to meet her at the doorway.

Atella didn't say anything, but she sat down in her chair and started digging around in her bag. Loki watched her curiously, trying to figure out what all she brought with her. Was she going to try to make him tell her where the cube was through torture? Doubtful, but still probable. Still, they wouldn't send her in alone to get information.

His was still wondering what was in her back when she pulled a bowl out from it and sat it on the ground next to her. That was quickly follow by another, smaller, bag that she pulled out from the original bag, and sat it on the ground beside the bowl. She unzipped the small bag and began to place fruits into the bowl. To his surprise, Loki recognized most of them. They must share the same fruit barring trees on Asgard and Midgard.

Hunger began gnawing at his stomach the moment he saw the fruit. He had not eaten in nearly two days, which wasn't that long of a time, but if he was going to break out of here, he needed all the strength he could get.

He tried not to act like he cared about the food, and walked away from the door. He didn't want the agent to think that he was weak, and he definitely didn't want her help. After her question this morning, he was sure that she would give him something to eat anyway, so there was no point in being forced to ask for it.

He sat down, wondering how she was planning on getting the fruit inside the cell. Atella made no move to get up after she had placed the last piece into the bowl. Instead, she bent down and slid the bowl closer to the door, and straightened back up to watch his reaction. Loki looked from Atella to the bowl, wondering what she was playing at.

8-8-8-8

Atella sat back up and looked at Loki. She watched him looking at the fruit bowl and saw his face fall when he realized she wasn't giving it to him. This went on for several minutes before Atella couldn't take it anymore.

"Look, I know that you're hungry. If you want something to eat, all you have to do is ask."

Loki laughed. "I would rather starve than ask you for anything."

Atella smirked but didn't say anything out loud. _"Except wanting my help taking over the world."_

_"I do not need your help. I merely offered you a place in the new world that I am creating. Don't think that I need anything from you, mortal," _he snarled back at her.

"I can't even bother arguing with you today. Stay where you are and I will bring you something to eat."

"Oh, that's so nice of you trusting me to stay here while you open this door," Loki said with a dangerous look in his eye.

Atella stood up and walked over to the control panel. "Are you joking? I don't trust a single word that you say. By the way, you might want to lay down."

"What? Why?"

Knowing that he wouldn't listen to her and that they would be there all day arguing with each other, Atella latched onto his mind and whispered, _"Sleep"._

At once, Loki went completely limp, and his head fell back against the cell wall with a loud thud. Atella was pleased with herself. A mind that was caught off guard was so much easier to influence than one prepared for battle.

Atella walked over to the bowl of fruit sitting on the ground and sat it inside the cell, and turned back outside to her bag and pulled out a bottle of water and a box of something and sat it beside the bowl as well. She ran back over to the panel, and as soon as the door was once again closed, she let go of his mind.

Loki immediately sat up and looked around slightly alarmed. His eyes fell onto Atella with disdain written all over his face.

"You can do that?" he asked her.

"Yes. I thought that you might be able to resist me, but I guess not."

Loki didn't say anything back, so Atella continued.

"I hope that you like what I got for you. I wasn't sure what kind of food that you had on Asgard, so I just picked up some of my favorite things," she said to him.

Loki was still silent, but he got up and walked over to the food she had brought him. He recognized the orange, a mango, and several apples sitting in the bowl, but there were still a couple of them he had never seen before. Beside the bowl was water, but then also a blue box with writing all over it.

"What is this?" he said pointing at the box.

Atella looked to where he was pointing and smiled. "Pop tarts. The cook in the kitchen said that your brother requested them, so I thought that if he ate them, you would too."

Loki rolled his eyes. Of course. His brother would take a liking to any mortal food that was thrown his way. Loki bent down and picked the bowl of fruit up, as well as the bottle of water, and walked back to his bench.

He could feel the woman watching him as he examined the contents of the bowl. The fruit he knew of looked as good as the ones back home, and the ones that he didn't know still looked very good. He was so hungry that he would have even accepted the contents of the blue box if he had to.

8-8-8-8

Atella watched Loki pick up every fruit and look at it closely. She deduced that he was satisfied with what she brought him, and began replacing everything, except for a mango, back into the bowl.

Atella was interested to see what he did here. He obviously knew what it was, so how did he think he was going to cut it without anything sharp. She assumed that he would go for an orange or an apple instead, however, she didn't have to wait very long for her answer.

He took the mango in his left hand, and held his right hand above it. Suddenly, the mango popped out, completely peeled, leaving its skin behind in his other hand. He dropped the skin into the bowl beside of him, and held the mango in his hand, palm facing outward. Just the skin, the effect was instant. As soon as he waved his hand over the fruit, it fell apart in several slices, leaving only the seed in the center completely whole.

Atella felt her mouth drop open. People could talk about magic all day, but to actually see it was incredible. Her reaction wasn't lost on Loki. He looked over at her and smirked.

"Are you actually impressed with this?" he asked.

Atella closed her mouth and regained her composure. "Well, it isn't everyday that I see things like that. We don't have magic here."

"Pity," Loki said, conjuring a second bowl out of mid air to put the mango slices in. "I had hoped that there would be some form of magic on this planet. There are several others in Asgard, but none of them are as accomplished as I am."

Atella shrugged. "You guys have magic, we have science."

Loki stood up, carrying the bowl with the mango in it, and walked over to her. "Actually," he drawled, "in your terms, we have both." He took a bite of the mango and watched Atella carefully.

She felt slightly uncomfortable under his gaze, but she pushed the feeling aside. "We just haven't unlocked the science behind magic yet."

"In a way you have," Loki said, still munching on the mango.

Atella nearly launched herself at him. He was so utterly condescending and smug that she wanted to attempt to beat it out of him.

Instead, she fought to keep her voice under control and said, "How so?"

"Look at yourself. Look at what you can do with your body, with your mind. Do you really not think that is magic?"

"No. I was told that it has to do with something in my DNA. It was some kind of mutation or something. They told me when I was very young… I don't really remember the details."

"Ah, see, you've just proved my point. What you can do has nothing at all to do with your science. It's magic, and, as you've just stated, you mortals have pinpointed exactly where the enchantment is and what it effected. You are closer to discovering magic than you think. And I think that your… boss, knows a lot more about you than what he is telling you," Loki said, thoughtfully biting into his last slice of mango.

Atella didn't say anything. Was it really an enchantment that had been casted on her all of those years ago? It didn't seem like it at the time, but, then again, how many times had she ever seen an enchantment. After all of the tests they did on her, they couldn't come up with any scientific reason for her talents. It left everyone completely baffled. She thought about how effortlessly she could change her skin, or latch onto someone's mind. It was like it was apart of her, something that she was born to do, just like breathing or sleeping. Isn't that what magic was? And what about Fury? Was he really hiding something from her? Had the doctors and scientists found something out that they weren't telling her?

Her train of thought was interrupted by a buzzing sound coming from her bag. Atella quickly turned her back to Loki and started digging around in her bag until she straightened up with her communication earpiece.

Atella put it in her ear and said, "Yes?"

There was nobody at the other end, only silence.

"Hello?" she said while tapping on it

Nobody said anything back. She took it out of her ear and examined it.

Loki laughed behind her. When she turned around, he was walking back to his bench.

"Clever," he said. Then he looked at the camera. "That was really subtle of you."

_"You should really think about my offer. You would find more trustworthy company with me rather than anyone on this planet,"_ the god of lies and mischief said to her inside her head.

8-8-8-8

I cannot even begin to explain how much trouble I had with this chapter. The first draft was about five pages longer, and ten times darker. I wasn't happy with it, but after about four more rewrites, this is what I came up with. I want their relationship with each other to be based on a mutual respect and fascination, and that just wasn't coming through in the other ones, so I hope that it came through here.

So I'm heading down to the beach at the end of this week, and I hope to get a lot more writing done while I'm down there. The next chapter is going to be a lot more light hearted, and we may see the first glimpse of attraction between the two main characters. I can't wait to see what you guys think!

Also, I will be attaching "Chapter 4" to this one to make one big chapter, so just keep that in mind.


	5. Planting Seeds

Ugh. I am horrible to you guys. Between going on vacation and whatnot, I just had no time to write. I mean, I did, but all of it was bad. This chapter went through about five revisions, and I am still not completely happy, but I can't keep you all waiting anymore. I will post the next chapter tomorrow morning, and I will try to update several time in the following week to make up for all of this. Thanks to everyone that hasn't given up on this story :)

8-8-8-8-8

Loki and Atella did not speak very much after the incident with her communication device. In fact, that's how things were for the next few days. Atella would walk in early in the morning, exchange pleasantries with Thor, and sit in her chair, silent, until it was time for her to leave. She always brought food with her to give to Loki in the mornings, and she would usually put whatever food Thor brought with him into the cell before leaving.

Loki was fine with the silence. He would rather her not say a word to him than talk his ear off, or insistently try to interrogate him. He never saw much of anyone else besides his brother or the agent. Nick Fury stopped by every once in a while, but it was just to ask something of Thor or Atella.

Nothing really changed until a week and a half after his capture. Atella walked in as she normally did and stood chatting with Thor for a few minutes. After he left, she dropped her bag on the floor as she normally did and went to the control panel. Loki felt the familiar sudden urge to sleep overcome him, and when he opened his eyes again, there was a container of food and a plate sitting beside him. She usually sat it in the same place right inside the door of the cell, and this was the first time he had found it this close to him.

He looked over to her usual place in the chair and found her, not staring off into nothingness, but lounging lazily and reading a book. This was the first time she had ever brought anything besides food with her into the cell had been so quiet between them lately, and he wasn't sure that he wanted to break that, but he was curious as to what brought this change. The agent had appeared more than happy to sit in silence with him, doing nothing.

He sat there for a few more minutes, watching her, before making up his mind.

"Tell me about this realm," he said.

Atella put her book down and looked at him.

"What?"

"I do have a genuine interest in the place that I will be ruling over. Unfortunately, I was not taught the finer details of Midgardian history," he said, leaning back against the glass, waiting for her to speak.

"Well… what did you want to know more about?" Atella said uncertainly. Fury never said anything about talking to Loki, but she knew that it was unwise to divulge any kind of information about the planet to the enemy.

Loki considered his answer for a few moments before saying, "How many rulers are there on this planet?"

Atella had a quick internal battle with herself before coming to a decision. "I'm not going to do this," she said, picking her book back up to begin reading again.

_"Are you afraid of what Fury will think? There's nothing wrong with talking."_

Atella didn't make any sign that she had listened to a word Loki had said. She acted as thought she was still reading her book, but her voice began speaking in his head.

_"It would depend on what you would classify as a ruler. My country, the part of the Earth that you are on, has a president. Different places call their leaders different things,"_ Atella paused for a moment then continued. _"But you want to know about leaders. That is a very broad term. There are many different kinds of leaders on this planet. Some are obvious, like a person that is the head of a country, but some people manage to lead through books or film or even science."_

_"And how does one rule over millions through a book?" _Loki asked. It was not condescending. He sounded genuinely interested.

_"I didn't say rule. I said lead. We try not to use the word 'rule' here. Any person that has attempted to rule over a country has been killed or ended up taking their own life," _ she stopped to let the words sink in. _"All it takes to lead people is to inspire them. You have met Captain America, right? He has all of the qualities of a good leader. I've only known him for a few weeks, and I already look up to him. It's just something that you're born with, I guess. I've never been able to do that… get a room full of people that I don't know and that don't know me to listen to a single word that I had said. Even your brother has the potential to be a great leader. He can inspire people, but in a different way. We are lucky to have them together on one team," _Atella said, not looking up from her book still.

Loki instantly felt his anger rising at the mention of his brother. Atella saw this reaction in his face and continued, amused by the fact she could irritate him so easily.

_"Like it or not, Loki, your brother was born to be a king. It makes perfect sense for him to have leadership qualities instilled into him. Of course, I haven't' known him all of my life, but he seems like a good-"_

_"My step-brother is a pathetic coward that only cares for himself. He only does things that he thinks will make him look good to other people. Had it been fair, Odin would have placed me in the throne of Asgard while Thor took a few years and grew up. Thor will be an arrogant king, not capable of completing the smallest task. Asgard will be in disarray by the end of his first year on the throne."_

Atella glanced up from her book to Loki and said, _"Can't you tell he has changed? Whatever you knew your brother to be is not what he is now. And how do you think your first year would go as king here? You would be dealing with riot after riot, and, maybe at the end of the first year you still have people to actually command that are not dead or opposing you, you will still be in charge of keeping these people alive. Every man that has decided that, for whatever reason, the world owes him something, and who tries to get that something by killing a bunch of people and declaring himself superior to all other beings, usually is murdered.'' _Atella looked up again to see Loki nearly shaking with rage and couldn't resist. _"I bet your brother wouldn't have any trouble with this."_

Through a giant effort of will, Loki tried to keep his voice calm and said, _"It sounds to me like Midgard has not found someone that is suited for ruling over everyone as a whole. It will be different when I am king."_

_"No. It won't. If you don't give up on this idea now, this will only end with your death."_

_"You said yourself that the only two people capable of killing me with ease are my brother, who could never bring himself to do so, and yourself."_

_"Well, there you go," Atella said._

Loki smirked at the assassin. _"I can't help but notice how you're the only one on this planet that seems to genuinely care about my well being. My idiotic brother would not have thought to bring me food or water. Fury would not give me the best food available on this vessel. But you do all of that. Forgive me, agent, but I do not think that you would kill me at this point. You don't have it in you. And, I'm curious, but what is that saying about how you feel towards me?"_

Atella fought to keep her voice steady and said, _"I feel nothing more for you than a deep loathing. I show you kindness in hopes that you don't attempt to escape and kill everyone on this ship. I would do the same for any prisoner that we needed information from… and that I couldn't simply torture for that information. You could not mean any less to me than you do right now. You're just another job to me."_

_"You should have listened to your parents,"_ he paused to let his words sink in, and to see her reaction. She didn't move, but clutched the sides of her book tighter.

_"How do you know anything about my parents?"_

Loki didn't resound to the question, but said, "_Do you think, had you not got them killed, that they would be proud of you today? You know it is you're fault that they are dead, right?"_

In an instant, Atella stood up and ran back to the control panel and hit the button that opened the door to the cell. Before Loki could even think to run out of the door, Atella shifted into diamond form and was in the cell holding the god in the air by the throat, just as he had done to her on their first meeting.

"You think I give a shit about you? You are threatening my planet's existence. Everyone that I have ever known or loved. Anyone that I have ever passed on the street, or stood in an elevator with. They could all be dead because of what you are bringing to my home."

Atella tightened her already iron grip on his throat. Loki was gasping for air, but none of it was reaching him. He tried pulling her arm off of him, but he was already weak from the lack of oxygen. He felt the sleepiness hitting him, as it did when Atella would open the door to bring him food, and, for whatever reason, he felt at peace for the first time in his life. In the distance, he thought that he heard yelling and footsteps, but the idea of sleep felt so good, and this feeling of peace he never wanted to let go of.

8-8-8-8-8

Atella could hear the guards outside of the door, and knew that they were going to come in any minute. Loki was on the verge of passing out, and he had stopped struggling completely and his eyes were fluttering shut. Just a few more moments, and this could all be over. In a few more moments, he would be dead, and it would be one less thing that they had to worry about.

That didn't happen. In the moment that about twenty SHIELD agents poured into the room, and Atella's temporary distraction, Loki held on to her arm and twisted out of her grasp. He landed very shakily and had to lean heavily on the wall to avoid falling down. He was taking deep breathes of air, and all the while he never took his eyes off of Atella.

The door was closed to the cell, so she didn't have to worry about him escaping, she just had to worry about herself. She tried to reach out to take control of his mind, but he was prepared for her. She felt what could only be described as a bad headache as he pushed her out of his mind. Being that he wasn't as strong as she was when it came to telepathy, she was still inside his head, but she was unable to control him or make him fall asleep without taking the time to really concentrate. All she could do was talk to him, and that was the last thing she wanted right now.

Loki had stopped leaning on the wall and they were circling each other, waiting for the other to strike out. Loki had his fists clenched, and Atella remembered his vice like grip, which was so much stronger than her own. He had raw power, and she had to go into her diamond form just to come close to matching him. She remembered what it felt like when she started cracking, when her skin began to shatter beneath his fingers, and he had shown almost no effort in doing it. She knew that without control of his mind, he would, most likely, kill her, even if she was able to heal after being broken.

Atella looked behind Loki at all of the SHIELD agents with their guns targeted on him. If even one of them fired, Atella and Loki both would be dropped from the aircraft and into oblivion. One or several of them would fire if he attacked her; they wouldn't know what their actions would cause. Loki seemed to have the same thought because he was looking behind her as well, and he had unclenched his fists.

Atella was still trying to figure out how to handle this situation when Fury walked in with a gun of his own. Fury never held a gun in his hands unless he planned on using it.

8-8-8-8-8

Loki looked between Nick Fury and Atella. She kept looking down at the gun in his hands, and, at this distance, he could tell that she was nervous by the crease in her brow.

Was Fury planning on killing him? Although this was clearly Atella's fault, seeing as she opened the door to get herself trapped in here with himself, he was sure that, while Atella would only get yelled at, Loki would be shot and killed without a second thought.

"Agent Vorst, please subdue the prisoner so that I can let you out."

Loki realized that, for the first time, he was free of her mind. He didn't feel her presence in his thoughts as one would notice a fly buzzing around a room.

She tried to break her way into his mind again, but he managed to turn her away. He took a lot for him to resist her, and he would break eventually. He could take a chance, but it could result in his death if Fury decided to use that gun on him. However, it had a stronger chance of getting them both out of this mess.

8-8-8-8

Atella started to look worried, and tried again, with more force this time, but Loki's expression didn't change as he, again, did not allow her access.

Fury, who must have assumed she had control over Loki, lowered his gun and went to hit the button that opened the door. Atella noticed this too and said, "Hold on."

"I don't have all day Agent. I want you out of there."

"I don't have con-"

She stopped short because Loki, who appeared to be in a daze, walked over to the bench and sat down on it and closed his eyes.

Fury hit the button and the door opened. Atella looked back at it, then quickly back to the god pretending to be asleep. She started to back out, never taking her eyes off of him the entire time.

As soon as she had both feet on the walkway on the other side of the door, the door shut right in her face. Once the door had closed, Loki sat up suddenly and looked around, confused, as though he just got out of a telepathically induced sleep.

"We need to talk," said Fury.

8-8-8-8-8

Atella and Fury left all of the guards in the cell room with their guns pointed directly at Loki. He would be fine for a few minutes. Fury didn't say a word, but Atella could tell that they were going to his office.

They walked past Banner and Stark's lab, and the two men were both typing furiously into computers, and didn't even take notice of Fury or herself. Atella meant to visit with Banner more. He had an incredibly calming effect on her, and she just enjoyed being in the company of someone that she could just talk to casually. Every time Stark walked into the room, it was like the energy level rose ten times more than what it usually was.

Atella felt something poking clumsily at her mind. When she reached out with her own thoughts and touched it, she heard Loki's voice, but it was like it was coming through an old, crackling radio.

_"What do you want?"_ she asked him.

_"You need to lie to Fury. Don't tell him that we were talking."_

_"No shit." _Atella felt frustration on Loki's end, but was surprised when he was still being civil.

_"They are going to be watching you closely now, that is if Fury even still let's you stay on this vessel," _he paused shortly then said, _"You know, this would all be much easier if you just got me out of here and helped me take over this planet."_

_"Fuck off. Fury wouldn't just kick me off of the ship, no matter how pissed he may be at me." _Atella ignored Loki's last words on purpose.

Loki was quite for a moment, then said, _"You might be very surprised at what Nick Fury would do."_

Atella was so lost in the conversation that she didn't notice that they were standing outside of Fury's office. She pushed Loki out of her thoughts just as Fury opened the door and stood back, allowing Atella to enter first. She knew better than to sit down and just took a few steps inside before turning to face him.

Fury closed the door and turned to her and said, "Well? What in the hell was that all about? What happened?"

Atella took a moment to collect her thoughts. She knew that at this point, Loki was most likely just trying to mess with her. Fury had been with her for pretty much her entire life, and she couldn't forget everything that he has done for her just because one person filled her mind with doubt. But then… would she really be doubting Fury if she trusted him? She had been with SHIELD long enough not to feel any sort of confusion or fear over her chosen career.

"Loki has been… testing me. Over the last few days, he has been attempting to break into my own mind. I made it seem like I didn't notice, but it just became too much… too bothersome. He was trying to go through my memories, and I let him at first, just to try to figure out what it was he was looking for. Then he started looking at memories of my parents, and, I just… I don't know what happened."

"You lost control," Fury said softly.

"Yeah. Listen, I am not sorry for what I did. I doubt that he will try anything like that again, but I will apologize for the panic that it caused," Atella said, staring into Fury's one good eye.

"You are an agent of SHIELD, and I expect you to have better control over your anger. However, if you had been keeping that anger at bay for several days, I will overlook it for now. If you attempt to kill him again, you will be reassigned to the other side of this ship. For today, your shift is done. I will have other guards watch over him until Thor's shift begins, and until then, you stay as far away from that room as you can. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," Atella said.

Fury looked her up and down once and said, "Make no mistake Agent Vorst, I am upset about this, but I will be understanding this once because it concerns your parents."

Atella was silent. It was now or never. "Actually… I was wondering if I could talk to you about my parents."

"I would gladly stay to talk to you, but I am needed to do some clean up after your little tantrum. Perhaps after this situation is dealt with, then we can talk," he said.

Fury didn't wait for an answer from Atella. Before she had a chance to stop him, he was out the door, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

8-8-8-8

This chapter started out very different.e. It started out with Loki telling Atella more about magic and his family, but it felt too out of character for me. Atella was too sweet and nice to him, and Loki was becoming like some of the other Loki's that I have read in other stories. I know that he is still slightly out of character here, but I decided that I wanted my Loki to be more cunning than anything. I also had to figure out just how much he wants Atella on his side, and how much he is willing to put up with from her without trying to kill her. Anyway, this chapter went from being to nice and sweet, to Atella nearly killing Loki, to Loki nearly killing Atella (again), to Loki being to much of a creeper. All of it felt so wrong, and I actually sort of like this chapter. What do you guys think?

So I was thinking, what would you all like to see more of? Anything that I haven't added yet that you want to see. The next big plot point that happens, I don't want to happen for a bit, story wise. I just want to write a fun little filler chapter in between to give the characters time to settle and emotions to cool off. So, if you want to see anything added into the story, or see more of anything (dialogue between certain characters, more Stark, more from Loki's POV, etc.) just let me know. I will try to add as much as I can while still keeping true to the story.

Thanks a lot guys! You are all the best


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